Crimson Knight
by SimplyJanice
Summary: Peter never considered himself a hero by any means. But why is he the one who rescues the damsel? A simple visit to his brother leads Peter on a new path. Will this chance encounter bring him to his destiny? Willing to take all his second life has to offer, Peter finds all he desires in a simple human girl. But she belongs to another. MA Future gore and adult themes.
1. Chapter 1

**Crimson Knight**

Chapter 1

I smelled him coming before I saw him. Little leather bag in hand, the look on his face was that of a smug ass bastard. He always thought himself better than someone with the likes of me. Carlisle Cullen, ugh! He and little Eddie thinking their shit don't stink. Well, I got news for those two; I beat them at their own game.

There was no way in Hell Lonnie Knox was spending any "down time" away in some pathetic excuse of a prison. Shooting hoops, playing cards, and whatever the fuck else those assholes do in their leisure time. Letting that fucker off the hook with a little slap on the wrist and the chance to become Bubba's Bitch for the next 15-20, then what? Out again for 'good behavior'? I don't think so. Carlisle and Edward were just gonna have to kiss my ass on that one!

They made a stupid plan to knock Lonnie out and call the police to come get him, to face extradition to another state to full fill a warrant for multiple rapes and a possible homicide. _FUCK THAT_!

I heard their plans. I knew what they wanted to do. I just couldn't let Lonnie walk away after what he did. After he put his hands on HER like there were no consequences for his actions. The Cullens don't know. I saw him. I saw what he did. He touched her. _HE FUCKIN' TOUCHED HER!_ Not on my watch pal. Not gonna slide.

Bitch found out though didn't he. I never took so much pleasure from draining the life source out of a piece of shit like Lonnie before. His blood was stained. Stained with so much drugs and alcohol that I thought I was high when his lifeless body fell from my hands. The truth of the matter was; _I WAS_ high. I still am. High with the knowledge that that little bitch ass punk couldn't hurt her or anyone else ever again.

What a fuckin' surprise Carlisle's gonna get when he sees that someone already beat him to the punch. Little needle prick and a phone call is just not enough this time. Not enough by far. It's okay though, Lonnie's blood will sustain me for awhile, and at least he was good for one thing before he had to die.

His little punk ass buddies are next. They just don't know it yet. What the fuck? Blood is blood. And I need it. It's what I am. It's what I was meant for. Whether I take it from some sweet little old lady with a house full of cats, or the nasty pieces of shit that walk the earth, so be it. I just personally prefer to try and take those outcasts in society, those that really won't be missed, not in a real sense of the word anyway.

Edward was lucky, he was REAL lucky. He arrived about five seconds before I was about to make myself known to her. And to THEM! When he finally did make it to Bella, he looked insane, crazed even. _PUSSY._

He doesn't hold a candle to _ME_. Death on legs, and Lonnie found out first-hand what terror was really all about. Fucker shit himself when he saw me, when he looked into my crimson eyes, he knew. He knew he wasn't walking away from this one, not this time.

If little Eddie Cullen hadn't shown up when he did, Bella would've come to know all about _ME_, me watching her. And at that point, I couldn't be sure if I'd be able to distance myself from her any longer.

You see, I've watched her ever several times since the day I came across her scent in the woods. I was on my way to see my brother. I like to just drop in and say howdy when I'm in an area I know he's living in. I didn't make it that far, at least not at that precise moment. I followed the scent; it was something new, there was something strange drawing me to it. It wasn't that it made me thirsty, _HELL _I'm always thirsty. Its part of what I am. After all this time, it's nothing I can't handle. Nothing I can't look past.

The scent traveled in many directions the closer I came to the residential places. I took the stronger path and I followed it for some time, the more I followed it, the more it became interlaced with the scent of a vampire, a vampire _I KNEW_, a vampire that shouldn't be anywhere near humans. I couldn't help myself, I ran faster.

The vampire and human scent came to a stop at a little place on the edge of the woods. That's when it hit me full force. Just then, I saw her. She was stretched out on a blanket in the back yard reading a book, her chestnut hair lightly blowing in the breeze; I didn't dare step out of the shadow that I was under. I would've lit that backyard up like Studio 54. So I stood there watching her; I don't know how long I was there for. I only knew it was some time though, the sun began to fall behind the trees.

I finally snapped myself out of the self-induced scent coma I was in and trucked back toward the ol' Cullen place. I had to know why Edward Cullen's scent was all over that beautiful human's place. Why was he near her so much? Was he stalking a human to drink? That was a puzzle to me, those Cullen's pride themselves on being 'vegetarians' _HA!_ Fuckin' ridiculous, that's what it is. We're vampires for fucks sake! Blood is what we _NEED_! Blood is what we crave. How my brother drank from Bambi and his furry little friends is still beyond me after all these years.

Jasper had problems though. Real fuckin' problems when it came to the emotions of the newborns we trained and that of his prey. I can see how that might benefit him when it comes to his power though. Emotional bastard, depression took him down real low at times back then, I hated to see him like that. I tried to help him out as much as I could; I'd shield him as well as myself at times when he was at his worst. He'd feel better for a time, but there was only so much I could do, I didn't know my shield then, like I know it now.

Jasper would start projecting and I could tell by the newborns we trained, he was hurting something fierce. One of the strongest vampires I have ever known if not the strongest vampire I've ever come across, besides myself of course. He'd take a beating and keep going. Motherfucker would drag 3 or 4 of those newborn ass clowns around like they were feather pillows.

We fought side by side for nearly 70 years; we taught each other everything we knew about fighting. We were an unstoppable force to be reckoned with he and I, and I'm damn glad he's on my side. I'd never cross that fucker for anything. I like living my undead life and I'll love his pansy ass like my blood brother, till the day my stone cold corpse drops to the ground and turns to ash.

As I stood across the vacant lot near the bar Lonnie left, I can't help but smile at the reaction Carlisle has when he approaches the lifeless body now lying motionless on the cool concrete of the alley way I found him in. He drops the little black bag, and checks him for a pulse. Ha, a pulse? I'm not sure he even had one to begin with. Well, I guess if you put it in a technical sense, I don't have a pulse either and I'm still walking around this earth. As this thought crosses my mind, I slide myself back a little more into the shadow of the wall as he notices the side of Lonnie's neck where my fresh bite mark blesses his lifeless skin.

Carlisle snaps his head up to look around and I take off back toward Forks. I know he's got a suspicion, but there's no way he knows it's me, not when I have my shield around me. He can't hear me, he can't smell me. I'm as good as incognito baby.

There is a lot of fuckin' talented vampires out there, and we come across them from time to time. On occasion we become 'friends' with the others. And I use the term 'friends' loosely, because some, you just can't trust. Vampires are not accustomed to change, at least not frequently.

I got back to Forks no more than ten minutes later and decided to check out the Swan residence before heading back to the Cullen place to clean up and talk to my brother. Bella must have been in the shower, because I didn't see her on the first floor of the house. So I climb a tree 30 yards out in the forest and check her room. Sure enough, that little sneaky bastard Edward Cullen was sitting in her room. He was sitting in the corner in her rocking chair, waiting for her to come out. He'll never know I'm out here. I can tell the little pussy is nervous about something; his leg keeps twitching every now and then. Vampires don't twitch.

Bella was out of the shower soon after that, hair still wet and laying down her back. She was wearing some type of worn out sweat pants and a t-shirt. This girl is totally not worried about being underdressed at any time. I've noticed in this last week or so that she never likes to dress in more than jeans and the casual top. It's Alice who makes her dress in those crazy get ups she wears so uncomfortably.

Alice, my brother's wife, she's in a line of crazy all on her own. Crazy little vampire tried to get me to wear those oxfords and sweater sets she picks out for Jasper, when they stayed with me for a few years before they found the Cullen's. I can't help but laugh my ass off at him when he argues with her about them too. Bastard always backs down to keep her happy.

I found his favorite section in the closet and dresser drawer where he stashes his jeans and band shirts we had accumulated all these years together. I gave him a pair of snake skin boots for his 'birthday' one year. I'm surprised the bitch never got rid of those as well. I was happy to learn he warned her about touching those bad boys. Cost me $500 bucks. I also had to get a pair of my own.

Bella was a bit startled to see Edward sitting there in her room, but then she became slightly relieved he was there. She slowly approached him as he stood up and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. His actions made me mad to a certain extent, and a low growl erupted from my chest. I was thrown back by this. Why did it bother me so much? I knew I enjoyed watching this girl. I needed to make sure she was safe. I knew from what Jasper had told me and what I've learned that Edward was 'mated' to this human. But it still bothered me to watch a vampire or man touch her anyway.

"Hello Edward." she said.

"Hello Bella. How are you feeling now, love?" Edward asked.

What the fuck? Did he just call her love? She blushed at this endearment. Love? Really? I swung myself swiftly thru the trees as I came closer to the edge of the forest. Why? I have no idea, when I can see and hear everything from where I was sitting a moment ago.

"I'm feeling much better now that I have taken a hot shower; it helped me relax a bit after my trip to Port Angeles today. Thank you again Edward for being there for me. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't shown up when you did to save me." Her soft voice let out. Reaching me, and making me angrier that I didn't make myself known to her when I was going to.

Now, here she is, thanking the little pussy who couldn't even get out of the fuckin' car and kick those guys' asses that touched her, who put their hands on her. How could he consider her his mate, when he's not willing to fight for her? Not willing to put himself out there to take out some scum who put his mate in danger? FUCK! I took out that asshole for her, and she isn't my mate to protect.

I made it right! That was _ALL ME_, not _HIM!_ He had to call Poppa Cullen in to try and do it for him! He's a fuckin' boy. I guess I really can't expect a boy to do a man's job now can I! The longer I listened, the more pissed off I became. I had to get outta there, and I had to do it fast. I saw him bend down and kiss her on the forehead, that's when I fuckin' snapped!

"I'd do anything for you love. You don't have to thank me, it was my pleasure."

Another growl escaped me at his words and I took off. I ran. I ran my ass off. I came upon a small clearing in the forest, I stopped and looked around. It was an oval shaped area with a few nice little wild flowers growing and a few boulders littered the edge of the forest and off in the distance you could hear the trickle of water in a small creek. I set myself on the largest of the boulders and lay back with my hands behind my head. The night sky was filled with bright stars and the moon was full and high.

Its nights like these that make me happy to be what I am, to be able to look upon so many wonderful stars, to see them for what they truly were meant to be viewed as. I could never see the stars this way with my human eyes. I let out a large sigh and closed my eyes a moment picturing Bella with her wet hair down her back. She really is a beautiful young woman. I've been alone to long in this life, I have my brother, but there are things that even Jasper can't satisfy in me, like the love of a good woman.

I felt my pocket vibrate a moment before I took my phone out to check the message, knowing it could only be Jasper. His message read 'where the fuck are you Peter.' I couldn't help but laugh. Jasper and his fucked up texts, sometimes he's way too excited when I'm here. I gave him a quick reply letting him know I'm currently in a clearing about 8 miles northeast of his house. Another vibration comes; letting me know what else he wanted 'Do you want company brother? Or are you needing some alone time?' I'm always alone, so I let him know that I could always use his company, I could always talk to my brother. I miss him when he's not with me. Many years looking after each other, you get used to that kind of thing.

Jasper is my only family since the change. Maria made sure of that. Fuckin' Bitch. I'm so glad Jasper decided it was a good idea I had to get the hell outta there when we did. We knew she was getting suspicious about mine and Jasper's closeness and his ability to relax when he fought with me. She knew all about his power, but nothing of mine. Jas kept the secret with me. We knew if she found out; there would be no way that we'd ever be rid of her. Not till we burned.

Only minutes passed and I could smell and hear Jasper approach the clearing. When out of nowhere a 12 inch rock comes smashing into my shield. I sat up quicker than lightening.

"Just checking." Jasper states from 500 yards away.

"Asshole." I called back. We both laughed whole heartedly, because Jasper ALWAYS had to 'just check!' Fucker always thought it was funny too. He always wants to try and catch me 'off guard' and not be using my shield. Ever since we took off outta Mexico, out of Maria's Hell hole, I always use my shield. All day, every day! Only I can determine what goes in and what goes out. I never used to have that control over my shield before. I've strengthened it over time. When time is all you have, there is no reason not to work on self-improvement of some sort.

"Where did you take off to tonight Peter?" Jasper asked when he came into view.

"I had some business I had to take care of. Why do you ask?" I wanted to know.

"Emmett and I wanted to take you out on a hunt with us tonight. He mentioned that you wanted to see him wrestle a bear or something of the sort, He said that you wanted to learn how to hunt the way we do." A cocky smile crosses his face, and I knew what the bastard was up to, Again.

"I'll be fucked if I ever said those words Jasper. You know damn well I don't wanna snack on Two Socks. You of all people know I don't dig on the wild life." I laughed because Jasper has always tried to get me to join his cause every now and then knowing that I'd never cross that line.

"Peter, I know you feel that the way I feed is wrong, but I wish you would try it once brother. Just once and maybe, just maybe you might see just how little difference there is in what blood we take to sustain us." he stated.

"Jas, Bro. I hate to break it to you, I really do, but you do this every 5 years or so. I'd never dine on swine unless the population of humans on the Earth would dwindle down to nothing, and then and ONLY then would I chow on Chewbacca." He lets out this huge laugh and joins me on the boulder.

"Ya know I've missed you Peter. I've missed you a lot. How long will you stay with me this time? I know Edward isn't your most favorite vampire, but please stay with me for awhile." he pleaded knowing I hated Edward with a fiery passion.

"I'll stay for awhile Jasper. I kinda like it here anyways, there's something about Forks that draws me to it." I stated truthfully to him. He smiled at my answer and let out a breath I didn't realize he was holding in.

"It'll grow on you Peter, if you let it." I then had to laugh at him. He really was beginning to worry me that he was becoming soft in his time of peace.

Bella, I still couldn't get her out of my mind.

"Jasper, I know we've talked about this before, but if Edward starts his shit with me again, I'll have to punch that pussy right in his fuckin' mouth. I can't stand it when he starts throwing his temper tantrums about me carrying _MY_ shield around me at all times. Just because he can't read my thoughts doesn't mean I'm up to no good damn it! I may dine on humans, but that doesn't mean I'm eating them here in Forks. You know I go out of town for dinner." Jasper sits up at my ranting words and I follow suit.

"Peter. Edward is very concerned and worried for Bella. He's too worried that something will happen to her, she is human of course, and you know this. He just worries that something will happen to her." He looked down at his hands when he was finished with his statement.

He knew it pissed me off when the Cullen's would berate me because I follow my true diet, the way nature had intended it to be. Jasper would always bring it up every few years, this I came to expect. But just as I would turn him down, he would laugh it off and leave me alone about it. He knows who I am, just as I do. But he also knew how it got to me about the Cullen's and their superiority complex they have about themselves and thinking they're better than all others because they deny themselves what they _NEED_, what they _DESIRE_. I'm not fuckin' stupid. I'll never do it.

Even Jasper has had slip ups every now and again. He's a true testament on exactly how hard it is to control yourself with being a 'vegetarian vampire' and all. Human drinkers such as me, have insane control when it comes to human blood. I've never tortured myself or kept myself from what I need. It's easy for me to mingle with the humans, to be near them.

"Alright man." I let out an exaggerated sigh. "I'm just warning you. I've had enough of their shit, and I'm not dealing with it anymore. I love you bro. So I'll chill out as much as I can about it for you. But I'll take action on it if I need to." He laughs at me, but he knows I'm as serious as a lit match.

"What is it about this Bella anyways? I know you said he felt he was 'mated' to her, but how can he say that? How does he know she's his mate if he can't defend her himself?" I had to ask the question that was on my mind. Jasper had a blank expression on his face for a moment before he looked around the clearing again.

"You know Pete; there are many questions I ask myself about that. Most of them I can't answer. I feel his love for her, his desire for her. But what I don't feel is that massive weight that all mated couples have. I'm not sure if it's the fact she's still human or what. It puzzles me as well. If it is the fact that she is human, they may never experience the full potential of the love that can be between the two." This was some good fuckin' information to have. My brother, the emotional bastard that he is, couldn't feel the most important thing in a mated vampire couple.

"Edward doesn't plan to change Bella. He wants her to experience her full potential life as a human." he said a few moments later.

I know my expression was blank at this point. I couldn't understand how a vampire who lives forever could let their mate die and live the rest of their unnatural life without their other half. I mean fuckin' voluntarily let them DIE, especially when you could prevent it from happening in the first fuckin' place. I know shit happens and couples get separated, and one might meet the business end of a torch, but damn! It's just not possible from what I hear.

Edward was more fucked up than I originally thought. He had to be. How could he go on with forever without his other half? Just fuckin' 'let her live her own natural human life, while mated to a damn vampire, are you serious? Jasper knew I was pondering this new information he gave me. But I wasn't finished yet.

Not by a long shot.


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own anything Twilight that belongs to the great Steph Meyer. I do however own a lot of pictures of Joe Manganiello for he is my inspiration for Peter in this story, lovely beard and all. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. **

**I would also like to mention that Peter has a lot to say at times, and his words are not classified as "wholesome" or "family oriented" please take caution in reading if you are under the age of 18. Mature themes lay within my story. **

**Crimson Knight**

Chapter 2

Jasper and I headed back to the Cullen place at a pace a little faster than a human run; we weren't really in any hurry to get back. He asked me something I'd been waiting for since I got here.

"Peter, do you still have your Harley in storage down in Seattle?" he said with a devious smile on his face. I couldn't help but smile as well. I knew where he was going with this one.

"Yeah, I keep it down at Nayeli Storage there just outside of Seattle. It's heated and everything. I don't worry about it being there during the winter months. When do you want to go riding? Are you sure that Alice is going to be ok with this? You know what happened last time." I couldn't help the evil grin that splayed across my face.

"You didn't just seriously ask me that did you? What the fuck Peter! We're vampires, we don't forget shit, and besides that fact, Alice brings it up all the damn time. Now, how could I forget what you did? Alice, she practically flipped when we bought the new bikes when you visited last time, she warned me about 'getting thrown in the slammer' again. She said that if it were to happen again that she would let us 'cool off' a little in the tank and that she wouldn't be in any hurry to bail our asses out of jail anytime soon!" Jasper said laughing.

I was damn sure itching to go riding with my brother; it's been so long since we've been able to just hang the fuck out together. Usually Alice didn't approve of us going out riding. She always felt that I was gonna raise too much Hell for Jasper to be involved in. We got into a good bar fight once, but we actually fought each other that time. We had stopped at a little biker bar outside of Denver and shot some pool while throwing back some Jack. I made him a stupid bet that I could sink all of the balls with one shot. Well the fucker shot me so full of fear that I was shaking, and I missed the 3 ball. Needless to say, I was pissed!

My right hook came in contact with his face before the smile fell from it. He then punched me back laughing at me when his fist actually made contact with my face. This time was one of the only times Jasper has ever gotten a hit in on me since I learned the ins and outs of my shield. Our brotherly fight caught the eye of some good ol' boys thinking they needed to fight as well. Let's just say that the place was in shambles when the 5.0 showed up. We could've fled the scene or resisted arrest, but we thought it might be in our best interest to play nice at this point. It would've brought too much attention to us.

Whiskey is one thing we can still consume other than blood, and it not have to come back up. We don't drink it too often because the shit takes longer to absorb than blood does. The fucked up thing about it is, we can feel its warmth, but we can't get a buzz from the shit. Fuckin' figures! A nice stiff drink is something that I do miss about being human. When shit gets to you, sometimes you just need to blow off some fuckin steam, so, on occasion; Jasper and I try to blow off some steam. It works in a way, but not really all the way.

"After I get cleaned up, I'll run up to Seattle, get it out of storage, get her cleaned up, and I'll need your truck of course. When do you want to take off?" I asked needing to know how much time I had to get her in riding order. It's been in storage for a good while up there.

"I believe this weekend would be great to go if you'd like." He stated with a grin.

"Alright Jas, I'll get it cleaned up, get my riding gear out of the storage as well, and I'll be ready to hit the road the day after tomorrow." I was excited, I couldn't fuckin' wait. I needed to just get out with my brother, take some time and just ride, and feel the wind across my face.

"That works great for me Pete." Jasper was happy about going as well. I think we needed some time together.

We got back to the Cullen place shortly after 4 am. Sure as a fuckin' vampire lives with no pulse, Alice was there to meet us at the damn door, hands on her hips and tapping her foot. The look on her face it was perfectly clear that I was sure as shit not gonna stop and see what the fuck she wanted.

"Good morning Alice," I teased as I went directly past her and straight up to my room, grabbed a fresh pair of jeans and a t-shirt and headed to the shower.

"Jasper!" I heard her whine from the safety of the shower. I'm not crazy, but for a little vampire, she really pops like a firecracker.

"Jasper, you're going out riding with Peter again this weekend?" She went on to chide him.

"Well I sure as fuck didn't buy the motorcycle to sit in the garage and collect dust now did I Alice?" He threw back at her. "I'm going riding with Peter this weekend, and I will continue to ride whenever I want to go. I miss my brother; you know we need this time. I won't be getting thrown in jail; I can assure you of that." She must have been locked into a vision because it took a few moments for her to respond to him.

"Fine Jasper, I give up. I don't see anything that you need to worry about at this moment. I just worry about you is all. I love you. I know you don't get much time with him, have fun while he's here, ok." She said in defeat. I was doing a mental fist pump for my brother; he grew some balls pretty fast. Usually he gives in; he must need the time away as much as I do.

I got out of the shower and dressed in the jeans and t-shirt I got out. I dug out my hiking boots and put those on as well, grabbed my keys along with Jasper's truck keys and headed out the door towards Seattle. I borrowed Jasper's Silverado, so I could load my bike into the back. I wouldn't be able to ride it back here; I'd winterized it not knowing when I'd be back for it. I didn't usually travel in a vehicle, I liked running most places, but there are times when I do like to ride my bike or drive a nice truck like this.

It didn't take me long to get there, load it up and head back to Forks. I made sure to grab my riding gear tote. I kept my leather in there along with a helmet for when I do get the bike out and ride. Why the fuck do I use a helmet? It's mostly for show. Usually I just go in my leather pants, jacket, boots, and wear a pair of riding gloves and some shades. Sometimes when it's sunnier, I wear the helmet to protect me from sunlight when I wanna sneak out in it. A little sparkle is ok, but it's not cool to for a grown ass man to sparkle like a fuckin' disco ball while cruisin' a Harley Night Rod Special down the highway at 100 mph. I am content with everything I am as a vampire. Everything except the fact I sparkle like a damn disco ball in the sunlight. No wonder vamps of old used to get keyed in as coffin dwelling assholes. No thanks.

The trip to Seattle and back to collect my bike was pretty relaxing. The sun was just peaking behind the clouds now, it looks as though Forks is gonna have one of its rare sunny days. That meant that Jasper got to hang out with me today at the house instead of going to high school. Why they still did that was beyond my comprehension, especially him. He has survived a human war, and then a vampire war on top of that shit, only to reduce himself to act like a high school student for several years every time they moved. How fuckin' lame.

He explained it to me before, but damn he's Major Jasper Whitlock, the most feared vampire warlord! I am his second in command. Just our names alone give vampires the need to fight or flight their asses away from us. Put us together and well, vampires just don't fuck with us; let me put it that way. And now, my brother is reduced to dealing with petty high school shit every damn day now. I know he hates it; he does it because he wants to keep Alice and the Cullen's happy; it just makes his life easier, less hassle, but to deal with the emotions and hormones of high school students every day. That's insane.

I unloaded my bike from the bed of Jasper's truck and parked it in the back garage where I got it from. Rose was in the smaller garage where the bikes were. She was always in there doing something. This time it was oil changes for them all. I'm not sure why, but I asked her if she needed any help. That was my mistake.

"Do I fucking look like I need help asshole?" She said as she tossed her hair behind her shoulder. I wondered if that was a trick question. I couldn't help but laugh a little earning me that famous Ice Bitch glare.

"Hey now Rosalie, I didn't mean anything by it, I just wanted to ask you if you did need some help since I was gonna be out here anyways. Fuck! Tense much? I'll just be over here outta your way, ok." I walked over to mine and Jasper's bikes and grabbed a few shop towels out of the bin. My baby was in need of a good wash, wax and oil change, not to mention a bit of a tune up, if you will. I couldn't wait to get her on the open road. I spent about 2 hours getting her ready to go. I just took my time; I had nothing else I needed to do at the moment. This is something that I enjoy, so I do it at my own leisure.

"Jasper." I said at a normal tone knowing that he'd hear me and be down shortly. He was in his study with Alice talking about some hunting trip the family wanted to go on.

"Yeah Pete, what's up? Did you get her all cleaned up?"

"Almost as shiny as you!" I couldn't help but poke. Jasper hated the sparkles just about as much as I did.

"Fuck you Peter."

"Well Jas as much I like you, hell, I love you most days, but I'd never fuck you! Not even if you begged me t-"and with that we were rolling across the floor and out of garage door. Rose was all kinds of pissed off cause he rolled right over her dirty oil drain pan dirtying her pristine garage floor. We'd pay for that later on.

I had dropped my shield just as I saw Jasper fly at me out of the corner of my eye. This surprised him, though, because he actually hit me, not my shield. What can I say? I wanted to tussle with my brother. It's something we've always enjoyed doing. It keeps us on our toes so to speak, keeps us ready for a fight, you never know when you're gonna need to. That's one thing he taught me when we were with Maria's army. Always be ready for a fight, no matter the circumstances.

Twenty minutes and one pissed of Rose later; we were cleaning up the spilled oil on the floor of the garage, laughing at the look on poor Rose's face. This was priceless. Fuckin' priceless. Jasper had lost his shirt and half of his jeans, sticks and shit all thru our hair. I, at least, still had on most of my pants.

"I got you fucker." Jasper taunted me.

"You would've bounced off of my shield like a little rubber ball if I hadn't taken it down Jas. I wouldn't be so damn smug if I were you." This was a true statement on my part. Jasper would have bounced off the shield had I not taken it down. He still likes to gloat when he gets a hit in. Either way, I had fun. Just as the thought left my mind when I heard the pussy, he was upstairs whining to daddy again.

"Carlisle I don't think it's a wise idea for him to still be here. He is still a human drinker after all; we have a treaty with the wolves as it is, and if he doesn't stick to the hunting rules around here, we can very rightfully loose that." Edward's little boy rant rang thru the house. Here we go again!

"Motherfucker!" I roared as I slammed down the cleaning supplies I had in my hands. Jasper was pissed as well. He knows better than that. They all know I hunt out of town. I've had enough of this shit! What the fuck is he up to? I took off out of the garage with Jasper hot on my heels.

"Edward son, you know we would never turn Peter out. He's Jasper brother. He has been all these years. Son what's wrong? You've never had this much of a problem with him staying in the past." Poppa Cullen had a point as well. What the fuck is up? I was in Eddie boys face before he even attempted to open is little vampire boy mouth. I stood 3 inches taller than Edward so we were nose to mouth at this point with Jasper on my right.

"What the FUCK is your problem Edward?" I sneered. He was gonna give me fuckin' answers and he was gonna give them to me NOW.

"I don't know why you're hanging around here now. You've been here for well over 2 weeks. You've never stayed this long before, why now?"

"Why does it matter to you how long I stay? Are you my brother? Do I invade your space? Do I take the clothes off your back for my own? Do I eat your food? NO I don't. So why the bitchin'?" He cringed at my words, because at this time, I was invading his space. I was all up IN his shit. He tried to back up, but I just stepped right back up to him again. I was never afraid of a vampire before, so I wasn't about to be afraid of a little boy vamp now.

"If you're gonna act like a man Edward, then be a man, tell me to my fuckin' face what the FUCK the problem IS!" I roared. The windows shook with its intensity. This got the attention of the house. Every vampire that resided there was instantly in the room, but still no words from Edward.

Silence.

Jasper was the next to speak.

"Carlisle, I'm not sure what's going on here, but my brother doesn't bother anyone here, he pretty much stays to himself. Do you want me to ask him to leave?" Jasper sounded hurt by his own realization that this might be something that he wanted.

"No son, Peter is more than welcome here, always has been, and always will be. I'm not sure why Edward has difficultly with his visit at this time." He stated.

"Does no one see my problem? He's a human drinker! Here, in Forks!" Edward finally spoke, looking me right in my crimson eyes. I grinned. I knew what was up now; Jasper caught the drift as well.

"Well now we see the problem don't we, Edward." I mocked him. "We can't have a human drinker around your poor little human pet now can we?" Collective gasps shot thru the room.

"Bella is not my pet." His words are almost a whisper, "She's my mate."

"Why would you think I desire draining your 'mate' Edward? I wouldn't think of it, but maybe that's not the problem, is it? You do think of draining her, don't you?" His eyes fell. The truth was out there. He actually looked a little ashamed.

"She's his singer, Peter. Edward is always worried about the smallest of problems where Bella is concerned." Alice's low voice rang out in the silence.

"Well now, we all know the way around that debacle, don't we, Edward." I glared at him knowing his response.

"No! I will certainly not take her life away from her. I love her too much to do that. She will live out her human life as she is meant to without interference from me." He said sadly.

"I see your problem little boy, but I will not harm her, and, deep down, you all know it." With that, I left the room. I headed upstairs to clean up and grab a new change of clothes. Things downstairs erupted instantly.

"You know Edward, Peter has had my back for over 100 years. We have done many questionable things in our time, but to harm someone that our family members loved….that would NEVER fuckin' happen, and for you to assume that he would, well, that just pisses me right the fuck off!" Jasper was projecting his anger at this point; I had my shield up, of course, but I felt his emotions rollin' off of it.

"I'm sorry to upset you Jasper, but I'm just concerned over Bella's safety is all. I love her too much to lose her like that a-." Edward whined out but Jasper cut him off too soon to hear it all

"I don't give a fifth of a fuck!" Jasper growled out. Fifth of a fuck? What the hell? Did Jasper just say that? He must be pissed off.

"Jasper, honey, come hunt with me. Edward needs some time to think about what he really means by all this, and you need to calm yourself from these emotions in the house. Peter is ok; let's get a hunt in real quick. You're a little on edge." Alice got him to go outside with that. I finished in the shower and got dressed quickly. As I slid my shirt on, a light knock on the door came, and I could smell Carlisle there.

"Come in, Carlisle."

"Hello, Peter." He said while stepping into the room.

"What can I do for you? Am I still welcome here?" I asked. I was pissed off still, and only time would ease that. I'd had enough of Edward's little vamp tantrums.

"Son, you are always welcome here; you know that. I want to apologize for Edward's words a few moments ago. He's been on edge since he's found his mate was a hu—"I interrupted. I didn't need to hear this bullshit anymore.

"Carlisle I will not accept an apology on behalf of someone who won't apologize. If Edward wants to seriously apologize, he needs to be a man and admit when he's wrong. You coddle that boy way too much. You all know I have more control over my bloodlust than everyone in the house, apart from you, Carlisle. Every time I visit I hunt outside of your hometown. I would never put Jasper in that kind of predicament EVER!" I spit out at him, disgust layering every word. He knew I was still very much pissed off about his whole fucked up situation. Why accuse me of this shit now? I'd never hurt his precious little Bella. I just didn't know why I wouldn't, other than the fact that she is intriguing.

"Very well, son, I'm sure he'll apologize to you once he calms down. With that, please feel free to stay as long as you and Jasper deem necessary. And by all means, please, make yourself at home."

"Thank you Carlisle." I said as he turned and walked out the door.

A few moments later, I flung myself across the bed with one of Jasper's war history books. He said that the accounts of the Civil War were never documented properly. I had to read this particular book and find out why he felt that way. Jasper and I had had many arguments about the war all throughout our lives together, most of them stemming from the fact that I fought for the North and he fought for the South. Even despite this fact, I fought side by side with him for many years in the vampire war. It didn't matter where we came from as long as we were there for each other at the end of the day. There, in the war, we had formed this bond of brotherhood that could never be broken. Not by anything. No matter the cause, no matter the force, we'd always be there for one another till the day we die our final death.

"Peter! Get your ass down here." Jasper called up the stairs to me; I must have been really engrossed in the book because I didn't hear them come back.

"What do you want Jas?"I asked as I came down the stairs. The sun was starting to set and I'd wondered where the day went. I really must have zoned out there for a bit reliving the accounts of the war. Jasper was in a better mood now, the gold in his eye much brighter now that he got some blood in him.

"What the fuck were you doing up there, bro? I called your name 3 times before I heard you stir around, and don't you dare tell me sleeping asshole. I know better than that shit!" We laughed. I really did tell him I was sleeping once. This has been many years ago, but I really did tell him I was sleeping.

"I was reading your war history book and thinking about things. I didn't hear you come in, and I didn't hear you call my name that many times. Sorry, I don't know how it didn't register to me. What's up? What do you wanna do now? I do need to get some more jeans and shirts. My stock I brought with me is getting low now thanks to your ass this morning." I was looking at Alice by the time I was done talking; she looked way too excited about me needing clothes.

"Oh, hell no, Alice. I buy my own clothes and pick my own shit. We're not going down that road again, firecracker!" I had to make sure she knew that shit was not gonna fly, not now, not ever.

"Pete, it's fine. I want to get a few things before we leave tomorrow; it's a good idea for us to do now. Sun is down far enough we can head out to Port Angeles if you'd like." He said grabbing his truck keys while looking at me.

"Alright, let's go." I said following him out the door. I didn't see Edward anywhere. I thought that maybe he was still sulking in his room, or he might be stalking his human. I don't know. We were silent for awhile in the truck, Jasper whistling to the music every now and then.

I just watched the scenery go by and thought a little about Bella and the draw Edward had to her. I knew I was drawn to her, as well. I just didn't know the depth of it, or the circumstances behind it. We had decided to take a longer trip and head toward Seattle instead. We were parking the truck to get out at the store when Jasper finally started to talk to me.

"Alice told me the family wants to go on one of those weekend long hunting trips next weekend. She thought that maybe we'd stay behind and have some time with you while they were away if you'd like. If you didn't want to stay that much longer, then we'd go with them." He looked as though he was lost at what to do. So I helped him out with his problem.

"Jasper, I told you I'd stay for awhile. I'll leave when you get tired of me being around here. I'm not letting Edward run me outta town when I'm here to spend time with you." His face light back up. I was happy to stay with him too. I liked Forks, and I really wanted to stick around for awhile.

"Great. That's a plan. I was really hoping that you'd want to stay longer. I know it pissed you off about Edward earlier, but please just let his bullshit roll off your back. I really appreciate you not taking his head off earlier today. Had it been a few years ago, I know you'd never have hesitated in doing so." We laughed because he was right. Maybe I've become more of a wuss in my time of peace as well.

We went into the simple store and picked out a few things Jasper needed while I picked up several types of shirts to wear while I was here and a few more pairs of jeans and boxer briefs. I also bought a new pair of black leather biker boots for our ride tomorrow. I couldn't wait to get on my bike and just ride for hours only stopping for gas. We checked out and started for the truck when it happened.

Jasper and I both caught the scent on the breeze, heads snapping up in unison. Vampires! Unfamiliar human drinking vampires. They must've just spilled blood because you could smell it in the air. I immediately threw my shield over Jasper. This was second nature to me when we were near each other and danger was in the shadows.

Jasper gave me a look of appreciation for the shield, his eyes already turning back to their original shade of gold. We dumped our packages into the seat of Jasper's truck and shut the door. We stood there looking at each other while weighing the options of what to do. Do we go and forget that we came across them, or do we find out who they are and what they're doing in the area?

**I'd like to send my thanks out to all who have reviewed; it really means so much to know what's on your minds. Thank you to all who have read my story as well. **

**I need to send out a SPECIAL THANKS to a few lovely ladies for their help.**

**Juliangelus-You're a great friend thanks for pre reading my shit. For without you I might have never had the courage to post this. Love you Sis! Please check out her Jasper/Bella fic it's called 'Tiger Stripes' it's awesome! **

**And to Mynxi you are one heck of a gal, you are also one of the reasons I began writing this down. Thanks for your encouragement!**

**And last but certainly NOT least! The wonderfully amazing noncanon4me It's you girl who keep me in line with comas and the run-ons that spew out onto the paper.**

**Please review let me know what you think **


	3. Chapter 3

**Twilight belongs to the great Steph Meyer. I do, however, own a lot of pictures of Joe Manganiello, for he is my inspiration for Peter in this story, lovely beard and all. Thank you for taking the time to read my story.**

**Crimson Knight **

**Chapter 3**

We stood there for a few moments pondering our new-found situation. Do we track the vampire scent we had come across, or do we go? These vampires had not caused us problems personally, nor were they hunting in our backyard. They could simply be passing through. This was the reason we decided to jump back into the truck and start heading toward Forks.

"Peter, I've never come across vampires this close to home before. It just seems 'off' walking away and not confronting them." Jasper hesitated before stating his true thoughts while we drove home.

"What are we supposed to do? Confront every vamp we come in contact with? We didn't actually come into contact with them; we just smelled that they had been near at some point feeding." This was fact. "We can't just swing back into action like the old days and kill everyone we see. My name is not Van Helsing. It's Whitlock for fucks sake, and I don't go around killing my kind without cause, at least not anymore. The cause has got to be there _before_ I take action. They may be civil like us; we never know Jas." He agreed. We'd let the others know when we got in, and then we'd all keep an eye out for new vamps in the area.

A short while later we were back at the Cullen place. Alice must have seen something because they were all ready and waiting for us when we walked in the door firing questions at us left and right.

"How many were there?"

"Which way were they going?"

"What do we do?"

"If there was a chick, was she hot?" Fucking Emmett!

"We're not really sure; we smelled two tracks for sure, possibility of three. The breeze brought the scent in from the northwest, so we figure that's the direction they were going." We couldn't lie. We didn't actually see them, just smelled them, and the scents crossed, mixed, and muddled with each other. It was hard to tell them apart.

"Look." Jasper growled. "There is nothing to worry about unless they circle back and come this way. We have no reason to believe they will, and we have no reason to believe that they will be any kind of threat to us." My brother had his shit together for his family. We'd been thru this before, but they hadn't.

"He's right. Calm down. As long as you're aware of them, you're fine. Alice should see if they come back this way, or what they may decide to do. Just keep a close watch on each other, and if you feel that something is wrong, get back home."We had to keep them calm or they'd be insane with worry.

The days came and went as the Cullen's slowly got back to their normal routine. Jasper and I had put off our bike ride to keep the family calm. We'd decided that we would go the next week.

Edward was still on the edge of his own sanity, if you could call it that. Bella was due to visit with the Cullen's today. It was about eight a.m. I had just got done reading another one of Jasper's books.

I heard, "Yo asshole! You wanna come down here and play some 'Lollipop Chainsaw' with us on the PS3?" Emmett had been nagging Jasper all night to ask me; finally he did it himself.

"Is that the new one where the chick is all tits and hacking up Zombies?" I asked. That game seemed very educational. I mean in the sense that if more supernatural shit would happen, and the humans started turning into zombies, I'd wanna know how to kill 'em. I wouldn't want to suck that nasty zombie blood! But, of course, it's probably as accurate as those vampire movies are about us! Anyways, it's a fun thing to do.

"Yeah, I'll play a few rounds with you guys." I stated while coming down the stairs.

"It'll kill some time while the sun's out today."

"Alright! Alright! Alright!" Emmett immediately yelled.

This man is grown, and he still gets excited spending time with his 'boyz' as he calls us. Yeah, he even emphasized the 'Z' and sometimes stretched it out way too long.

"Edward should be back with Bella in a while." He stated happily while he set the game up for us to play.

"Well, this should be interesting." Sarcasm lacing every word out of my mouth, I was definitely wondering how Eddie boy was gonna act while bringing his little pet here with me still staying at the house.

"You don't need to act like such an asshole all the time, Peter." I looked over at Rosalie as she came into the room looking every bit the frigid bitch she is. If I didn't know any better, I would think this chick is constantly constipated.

"Whatever keeps you feeling all warm and toasty on the inside there, frost queen. I have my ways, and you obviously have yours. Being an asshole is what I do, and being a bitch is something you must pride yourself on because you do it so well."

I was nice and sweet with a smile on my face, but despite that fact, she instantly gave me the death stare and sat down on the couch that was close to the kitchen, did that damn hair flip, and crossed her legs. She propped a Jeggs catalogue up and began searching for her next custom upgrade on some auto or another.

"Alright let's get it on!" Emmett boomed with excitement.

"You're dead asshole!" Jasper teased him earning a look that simply said '_WTF_? Really?' "Well, fuck, technically we're all dead, but you get my point!"

A couple hours and a very sore loosing Emmett later…

"I'm done with this shit!" I couldn't take it anymore; how someone could play this shit for hours on end was beyond even me. I like a zombie movie just as much as the next guy, but, damn, enough was enough.

"I'd rather watch a movie or something." I pleaded with them to stop with the insanity.

"Alright Peter. Its ok; we can stop now. But I wanna rematch later."

"Deal, before I head back home, I'll do a rematch with you."

The sound of tires meeting gravel graced our ears just as we were gathered in front of the DVD stand to pick out a movie to watch.

"It's Bella! She's finally here!" Emmett was really like a little kid. I had a hard time believing his real age at times. Don't get me wrong, you don't wanna mess with him and piss him off. Boy was strong, nothing much compared to Jasper and me, but still he could manage very well on his own.

I'd not ventured out to watch Bella this last week. I gave it a break, but as the car came closer to the house, I started to become excited myself. I didn't quite understand this feeling. It bothered me a bit, but then suddenly it down right pissed me off when I heard what Edward was saying to Bella about coming to the house today.

"Stay close to me love; I told you we should've stayed at your house today. It's not safe for you to be here right now." Suddenly all eyes were on me. By the look on Jaspers face, he knew I was pissed.

"Why do I have to stay so close to you? Is this other vampire mean? He…he isn't like you…and the others?" she sounded really concerned. Fuck, no, I'm not like _him_. I hadn't realized I was growling until I saw the ice queen's expression. Then I cut it off with a deep unneeded breath.

"You should know now, he has red eyes, love; it's not safe for you. C'mon I'll take you home instead."He pleaded.

"I don't want to go home Edward. I've already told Charlie that I was staying with you and Alice today. I was looking forward to seeing Emmett as well. Red eyes? What does that mean?" By this time, the car was parked and he got out and helped her out of the prissy, silver Volvo he drives around.

"Red eyes, Bella, the red indicates that he is a human drinker." She didn't respond to that statement. I was surprised by that, to say the least.

"Stay close to me; don't leave my side for a second." He said, taking her hand and leading her up the stairs. Emmett opened the door for them.

"Jelly Bells!"

"Hello, Emmett, how are you doing?"

As if on cue, Alice came prancing her little vampire self down the stairs and scooped Bella up into a hug. I saw Rosalie roll her eyes at their excitement of the human girl.

"Bella, I've missed you. How are you doing today?"

"I'm doing very well Alice. Thank you. How are you?"

Letting go of each other, she replied "I'm great actually."

I stayed back beside Jasper while the commotion was going on with the human greeting. Alice walked over to curl into Jasper's side, and that's when Bella noticed me standing there with them. Her brown eyes met my crimson ones and Edward froze in position.

"Bella, love, this is Jasper's brother Peter. He's been staying with us; he'll be here for awhile." I walked closer to introduce myself to her formally when veggie boy shifted Bella behind him and stiffened his now protective form. I couldn't help the laugh that escaped from me. Was he serious? Then he decided to open his mouth.

"Stay away from her Peter!" I couldn't help but take several steps closer just to taunt him further.

"Now why would I need to do that?"

As I asked the question, Bella stuck her head out from around Edward with a timid "Hi, Peter, it's nice to meet you." The wonderful light shade of blush that made an appearance on her skin made me smile a little bit.

"Hello, doll, it's nice to meet you too. I've heard so much about you from this family. You don't have anything to fear from me despite what Eddy here might have you believe. Edward doesn't like my red eyes, but I think they're sexy as hell." I said giving her a little wink earning a growl from little Eddie Cullen.

"Just keep your distance from her, Peter." He sneered at me. I had no idea when he grew balls. Very interesting.

"And you think you're man enough stop me, little boy?" I growled back stepping a little closer. Edward's growl became deeper and he grabbed Bella's hand tighter.

"OUCH! Edward you're hurting me."

"Why don't you guys just whip 'em out and see who's is bigger, ok! This is bullshit!" Rosalie muttered while slamming her magazine down and storming out of the room.

I felt a ping on the edges of my shield, and I knew from the feel of it that Jasper was trying to calm the room a bit.

Alice strolled up to Bella and grabbed her hand bouncing up and down with excitement "Come on, Bella, I have something to show you." Bella looked to Edward as if asking for permission to leave his side. I mean come on, you've gotta be fuckin' kidding me!

"It'll be ok, Edward. I promise," Alice said.

"How do you know, Alice; you can't see him. How do you know?"

"I can see you, and I can see Bella. It's going to be ok, you know we've never had to question his control in the past...not now, either" Alice said with a smile earning a single nod from Edward.

Jasper slid to my side and whispered so that only I could hear, "What the fuck was that about Peter?"

I whispered back, "I'm not really sure what you're talking about J." I knew the smile on my face didn't convince him that anything I said was true.

"The way you looked at her. It's….." I interrupted him this time

"I'm not sure why you're acting all confused and shit...how _was_ I looking at her?" I got a little loud this time. I noticed that Bella had gone up the stairs with Alice leaving Edward down here and a little frustrated, to say the least.

"She's _MINE_" He growled at me "You stay away from her! If you don't, you'll be sorry." Now who the hell does he think he is? _I know he knows who I am_, and what I can do to him.

"I told you, I've had enough of the junior high drama. Fuck it! I'm out!" I left the bullshit behind, and Jasper followed suit. Once we were out of ear shot, Jasper lit into me, face to face in total Major mode all the way, man.

"Are you gonna tell me what that was all about, or do I have to beat it out of you Captain?" Oh shit, he pulled the Captain card on me. This means he wants answers, and he wants them now. He hasn't pulled rank on me in decades.

"UGH!" I let out a roar so loud the birds left the area. "I don't fuckin' know anymore Jas! I need to eat. Do you wanna join me?"

"As long as it's not on Ed's little girl – yeah" What? No, he didn't just say that to _me._

"Ya know, fuck you, too! You know me better than that shit...how long have you known me?" How could my own brother tell me something like that, especially after all we've been thru together? He knows damn well I wouldn't do that to him.

"Sorry bro—just trying to understand what got you all riled up in there." I know he does really care, but I had no idea what was wrong with me.

"I TOLD YOU. I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!" I roared again this time alleviating some of the frustration on an old and rather large tree.

"I hate that little fucker." Chunks of the tree were missing with the second punch I delivered to it.

"Well, I think the feeling is mutual. You didn't have your shield down did you?"

"No. Why would I just take it down? I don't like that little shit in my head." I can't stand it when Eddie tries to pry into my mind. They're my thoughts; they're not anyone else's business.

"I think that's part of the problem. He's so used to knowing what everyone thinks that it frightens him when he can't hear someone." Jasper did have a point, but I didn't give a shit. Not my problem at all. "It will be really pissing him off not knowing what you're thinking about Bella."

"And what, I'm the devil reincarnated, and my every thought is twisted, dangerous or deceitful?"

"In his eyes, yes, you showed interest in his little pet. Edward loves to have control of everything. Look at the way he treats her; she can't even go to the bathroom without his permission." Jasper was right again. The way he acted toward her was just wrong.

"Why does she stand for that? Does she enjoy being a pet, a damn dog? How could you treat your mate like that? Could you treat Alice that way, Jas?" I've never had a mate; I've never seen a mated pair act that way toward each other, so this just blew my vampire mind about how he could do such a thing.

Jasper had told me before that their feelings didn't seem right, that they were off. But Bella? Why did I give a damn how or why someone treated her that way? It's not my business. I didn't understand. She's human; she's a snack pack. I gotta stop this now before I go insane if that's even possible for me to do.

"Thanks for the time, Jasper. Like I said before, man, I need to get someone to eat; it's been more than two weeks since I've fed. If she's going to be in the house, then I need to get someone to munch on." I usually just ate when I felt like it. But right now with all the extra bullshit and me being on edge like this, I needed to eat again, and I needed to do it now.

He let out a sigh, "Peter you go out, and I'll meet you back at the house in a few hours, alright. I'm going to snag a few morsels while I'm out here myself." I cringed.

"Yuck! I don't need to hear about you licking Bambi on her sweet spot; how you don't hack up fur balls when you do that is beyond me, man." He laughed. That was something I always liked to hear, Jasper laughing. It's such a drastic change from the past we share.

I took off out of there and headed out to find my meal. I'm pretty fast at finding a good candidate for dinner, but today I already had some picked out. I quickly reached the Port Angeles city limits. Now, to find the other scum bags that helped Lonnie corner Bella. They'd both make a nice meal today.

Sticking to the shadows of the city, I quickly came across the scent of the bastards who were gonna meet Lonnie in hell. I made myself known to the larger of the two men walking down the alley way towards a beat up piece of shit truck.

"What's up fucknut?" I growled out to him. Fear instantly hit my senses. Oh, I feed off that shit really well. Fear is a delicacy that I really enjoy, so making my meals fear me was something I didn't do too often unless they deserved to fear death.

"W..wh…who are yyyouu?" He managed to get out before I grabbed him by the neck. "I'm the son of a bitch who took out Lonnie." His face fell and he pissed himself just as Lonnie had. "And I'm also the son of a bitch who's gonna send you to meet him in hell. Bella wants me to let you know that pay back's a bitch." He tried to squirm and twist himself free of my grasp, but it was useless.

"Wh…who's Bella?" He muttered under my tight grip.

"Bella is the young woman you and your little buddies terrorized here a few weeks ago. You remember, beautiful brunette all alone. You thought you could get away with it didn't you? But little did you know, you fucked with something that wasn't yours!" What was I going on about? She's not mine either. I just couldn't let it go that they did this to her.

I'd already had enough of his pitiful existence, I jerked his head to the right, and I sank my teeth into the soft skin of his neck. The warm flow of sweet and tangy blood filled my mouth, and I swallowed it down quickly savoring every last drop.

His blood ran out all too quickly, and it was time to track the other motherfucker down. His time was up as well. I immediately disposed of his body and headed toward the shadows again.

I took to the roof tops with speed, and I found my target very quickly. He was in the bar just off the pier with a group of guys who looked to be up to no good as well. It looked as though dinner might be provided in Port Angeles for the duration of my stay in Washington. That makes it easy prey for me. I sat and watched the group and waited for the opportune time to get to him. I made quick work of draining and ditching him as well.

Finally sated physically and somewhat mentally, I started to head back toward Forks when I heard his voice.

"Now, that was very impressive, if I do say so myself." It was just above a whisper, but I knew it was directed at me. Who the fuck it was I didn't know. I thinned my shield a bit to get a better smell on who might be addressing me. It was a familiar scent, three familiar scents to be exact. What the fuckin' fuck! How the hell did I not smell them before? I'm a stealthy motherfucker; I've never been snuck up on before. How fuck did this shit happen?

I started toward the forest edge when I heard them approaching. I readied myself, something I've always done since I was re-born into this life. I strengthened my shield once again leaving it just above the surface of my skin.

One thing, when on your own, you never leave your back unprotected, even with a shield as strong as mine. I backed up toward a large oak tree as the trio made their way into the forest. A tall and lean blonde male was flanked by another dark haired male and a female with the reddest hair I'd ever seen, almost as if it were on fire.

Having just fed, I knew that if it came down to protecting myself that it wouldn't be a problem. Vampires are always at their peak strength on fresh blood. Taking on newborns alone was one thing, but the possibility of taking on three older vampires not knowing if they have gifts or training meant that I was in for a treat.

This is one of those times I wished Jasper was with me. My fight or flight instinct was aching to be let loose. Fight won the argument.

I'd been sort of a nomad for decades, and I'd never come across this many other nomads that I didn't already know. I had to have the upper hand, for I needed information.

"What are your names, and what is your business here?" I spoke to all three not knowing who the leader was or even if they had a leader. The blonde male in the middle spoke first.

"I am James" he stated placing a hand upon his chest. "And this is Victoria and Laurent."James finished his introduction by motioning to the female and male at each of his sides.

**A/N I know, I know. Cliff hangers are brutal at times. Please let me know what you think. Leave a review; they make me all kinds of happy. When I'm happy, Peter talks to me, when Peter talks to me, chapters grow and form many sentences. Some of Peter's words are not "family oriented" nor are they considered "wholesome" but Peter is well…..Peter!**

**Is Peter gonna kick some nomad vampire ass? We'll see….he may surprise us all. **

**Thank you to my wonderful gals. Juliangelus & noncanon4me **

**Thanks for all you do! **


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own anything Twilight; that belongs to the great Steph Meyer. I do, however, own a lot of pictures of Joe Manganiello for he is my inspiration for Peter in this story, lovely beard and all. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. **

**Crimson Knight**

**Chapter 4**

"Those were some very impressive moves you demonstrated back there nomad. What is your name? Is this territory claimed by you?" Well now is a good as time as any to clear the air. I didn't want to tell them who I was, but I saw no other way around it.

"My name is Peter Whitlock. I do not live in the area; I'm visiting my brother and his family." My words left puzzled looks upon the faces of the nomads. James was the leader of this mini coven he was the only one to speak to me at this point.

"Are you one of _THE Whitlock brothers_?" Oh fuck! Now see, this is why I didn't want to mention who I was. Not everyone knows of us. But then again, so many do know.

"Yes that would be me and my brother Jasper." His eyes lit up with excitement. This worried me on a weird level. Why the fuck was he so excited? I decided that this point would be a good time to remove my jacket and replace that excitement with a lot of fear.

I unzipped my jacket and slid it off my shoulders, and all at once, the three nomads started to growl and take a step back. My scars always brought this reaction out in other vampires. I don't have near the scars that Jasper does. I'd earned what I have now before I knew about my shield. Seeing the fear replace the excitement made me feel just a bit relaxed, but I was still very much on guard.

"Now, would you be Major or Captain Whitlock?" What the fuck did it matter which I was to this guy. This James fool doesn't know how to stop pushing buttons.

"I am Captain Peter Whitlock; if you have no further business in town then I suggest you move on thru. The territory west of here has been claimed by my brother's family."

"We do apologize we had no Idea that the territory had been claimed." Something about this dude just pissed me off. He needed to move his little coven on thru. They are further west now than they were when Japer and I ran across their scent in Seattle.

"Yes, well, the territory is claimed, so if you'd kindly head out of the area, that would be much appreciated." I was trying to be as polite as I could to these nomads.

"Do you yourself reside within a coven Captain Whitlock?"

"I am a nomad like you for the most part." I just wanted to get their asses on the move and get back to Forks. Can't this guy just shut the hell up?

"I am looking to grow my own coven here Captain, we would love it if you would join us and take your nomad lifestyle on the road with us. We'd very much like your company." Oh Hell no! I don't need a fuckin' coven. I had had enough of that shit with Maria's controlling bitch ass.

"I'm not interested in joining a fuckin' coven. I'm sure you can understand." I couldn't help but be a little irritated with him. He didn't look happy with my response, but like I give a fifth of a fuck.

"Alright Captain, I can understand you don't want to join us now. But if you change your mind please let me know, the invitation will always stand for you and your brother if he wishes to leave his 'family' as you call it." He just didn't know when to stop.

"I'll pass the message along, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. Jasper is just fine with the family he has now." He gave me a nod as did the others upon my final words.

"It was nice seeing you in action Captain Whitlock. I've heard so much about you and your brother while we were traveling thru the south side of the country. It truly is an honor meeting you."

"Ass kissing will get you no further James. I suggest you heed my warning and move on as soon as possible."

By the expression James held on his face, he didn't want to heed my warning, so I decided to take action. As I stepped forward from my position the sun reflected off my scars and skin sending rainbow prisms all around. The sun refracts the venom scars differently, and they become much more intensified to vampire vision. To a human, it would only look slightly different.

I took no more than one step forward, and the dark haired vampire named Laurent took off in a sparkling flash in the opposite direction. Victoria raised her hand to James' right shoulder pleading him to follow suit. James hesitated for a few moments before he put his arm around Victoria, and they left following in Laurent's direction.

"The offer will always stand Captain Whitlock, for eternity." James stated over his shoulder as they bolted away.

Why this vampire wanted me to join his coven, I may never know. He didn't know me; he only knew my reputation, a reputation that would always be there. Jasper and I would never be able to live that shit down, not that I particularly wanted to either. Its part of who I am.

It's pretty much labeled 'fucked up' when some vampire asks you to be a part of their coven without even meeting you beforehand. I could've fucked all their shit up just for asking; he put himself and his coven at risk by doing so.

The thought that something is off with this guy came to me, and I shot Jasper a quick text asking him to meet me at the boulder we talked on a while ago. As I approached the clearing, I sensed that Jasper was ready and waiting for my arrival.

"What's the concern Peter?" He seemed worried about me. I just smiled at him.

"I went to Port Angeles to hunt. When I finished my meal, I'd started to head back when a vampire called me out. I was caught by surprise by the ones we came across in Seattle, Jasper! Me, the stealthy bastard that I am was blindsided by not only one unknown but three unknown vampires." His mouth hung open in shock.

"What are you telling me?"

"What the fuck do you think I'm telling you Jasper? I'm telling you that the three unknowns are making their way west. I spoke to the coven leader; his name is James. I warned them that this territory is claimed and they should move on thru." He was stone still like I'd never said anything to him at all.

"Jasper! Wake the fuck up!" He shook his head in attempt to clear his haze or whatever the fuck was going on with him.

"Look man, I had to revert to showing my scars to get him to understand that I meant business. He even knew who we are Jas. Not that many don't, but he was close enough to me to watch me kill my meal." He finally blinked in recognition of what I was telling him.

"Peter, did he say what he wanted?"

"Yeah he said he wanted me."

"What? Like wanted you wanted you?" He had that damn little devil smirk going on, and I wanted to punch it off his face.

"No, you fucking asshole! I don't roll like that, and your emotional ass knows it. Once he found out who I was, he wanted me to join his little coven; he also wanted me to extend the invitation to you as well."

"I don't want to leave my family, Peter, if that's what you're asking me, to join this coven with you-"I had to stop him right there cause I wasn't listening to it anymore. That's complete bullshit.

"Look, bro, I'd never ask you to join another coven, and you damn well know it. Not after the shit we went thru with that bitch Maria. I'm just giving you the information, so we can process it together and figure this shit out. Damn! I'm not jumping on any coven band wagons again." I kicked the large rock I was standing next to and launched it into the air.

"I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions Pete; I was just worried that you wanted to join with him. I know we'd said many times that we'd never do that again, but I just couldn't process. You kind of caught me off guard with that one." He smiled with relief, and I heard the rock finally make contact with a tree off in the distance.

I know how he feels about it, though. I'd be pretty pissed off if he wanted me to go all gung ho wild again. I'll never cross that line, but now I'm not saying I wouldn't do what I had to do to protect what's mine. That is a completely different story all in itself.

"Do you think they're going to come back this way?"

"I'm not sure. They took off once he realized how serious I was about them moving on; one fucker took off as soon as I started to step towards them."

"Yeah, I could only imagine why." He said between laughs.

"Hey, let's get back to the house. I really need to wash up and change my clothes. Some humans just can't hold themselves."

"Alright, I was about to hit the shower as well before you texted me. What do you think we should do, Captain? I'm thinking we don't need to say anything to the family unless it comes down to it." I nodded in agreement.

"That sounds good to me, Major. You know as well as I do that it's better if they don't panic unless there's a reason to, and right now, we have no reason to have your family worry." Jasper and I have always confided in each other about many things. We never let any official planning go beyond us. If we were outnumbered, we'd never let the others know till it was time, because people in panic never make the wisest of choices.

We made it back to the Cullen place, and I could hear everyone inside. The human girl, Bella, was still there; I could hear her upstairs with Alice. Apparently, it was time to have her hair put in curls and makeup done as well.

I headed up to my room and took a shower. I slid on some clean jeans and a tank top because I like to wear comfortable clothes regardless of who's around. I never have cared for what anyone else thought. Jasper always tried to hide as many of his scars as he could since it turned out that his wife wasn't that fond of them.

For years, I've tried to get him to loosen up about them, but he was always so worried because Alice didn't want anyone to see them. It made me angry with her; she is his mate she's supposed to accept him for everything that he is. It's his past; it's not like he can change them or make them go away because she don't want 'em there.

As I made my way downstairs, I heard a lot of commotion. Emmett was excited about something again.

"I can't believe you beat me again, Jelly Bells." His booming voice rang out. Everyone except for Carlisle was gathered in the large living room while Emmett and Bella were competing at some sort of video dance contest.

"Well, Emmett, I've got moves you've never seen. Besides, I don't have perfect recall of the moves like you do!" Bella whooped as she spun around with the Wii remote in her hand. She sure was a site to behold. Her beautiful smile lit up the room as well as her laughter. I couldn't help but laugh at this too.

Everyone turned toward me as I entered the room. Edward let out a low growl upon noticing my lack of proper attire as he likes to put it.

"Oh cut the shit, Eddie. I'm joining the festivities." I put on my best gentlemanly smile. Bella had her brown eyes trained on my now bright crimson ones once again; I winked, and her blush lit her skin up like a little red light bulb.

"Alright one more round; winner takes all!" Emmett just could never let it be if someone defeated him on those damn video games.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, Emmett; you'll have to exact your revenge later because it's our turn." Alice chirped from the sidelines pulling Jasper up with her. "Jasper and I are going to have a go at it this time." I raised my eyebrow to Jasper who just smirked at me.

"Bro, just sit back and watch me master the moves." He laughed as he took the Wii remotes from Bella and Emmett.

"Alright we'll see. You stole most of my moves back in the 80's anyways." I loved to taunt him about dancing "What are you grooving to anyways?"

"It's called The Michael Jackson Experience. Alice likes to dance to 'Don't stop till you get enough,' and you and I will do 'Beat It' when this one's done." He was excited to bust a move evidently.

"Beat It? I'd prefer 'Bad,' but whatever you want is fine. If you want to lose that's ok with me, but like Bella said, I've got moves you've never seen before." He reached to give me a high five.

"Alright man."

Emmett sulked in the chair beside Rosalie because he had to hand over the reins to someone else for awhile. The music started to play, and Jasper and Alice took their spots in front of the wide screen TV bolted to the wall.

Bella took a seat on the large sofa beside Edward and Esme. I relaxed against the back wall propping one bare foot behind me, arms across my chest watching my brother and his wife's family in good spirits while the Major busted a move to Michael Jackson.

"Jelly Bells, we're doing 'Billy Jean' or 'Thriller' when this is done." Emmett stated still sulking in the chair like a little boy.

"That's fine with me, Em. We'll go again after Jasper and Peter have their turn." She said while looking at me once again. Edward glared at me then looked down at her smiling face.

"I should probably take you home soon, love; Charlie might be worried if you're gone too long." Oh this little fucker was really pushing it today.

"We're all having a great time, Edward, besides Charlie will be out late tonight. He's out on the Rez with Billy fishing." She seemed very upset that he wanted to push her outta here. I know it's because of me; he's not fooling anyone.

"Oh nonsense, Edward, it's still early. You know your father will want to see Bella when he gets in from his shift at the hospital; besides, Charlie will understand if she's later. You know that." Alright, score for Esme for putting the dumb shit in his place.

"You're up, Peter." Alice said handing me the Wii remote.

"I'll get you a glass of water, love; do you need anything else while I'm in the kitchen?" Edward was trying to suck ass now that he'd upset her.

"No, I'm fine with just water. Thank you." Eddie boy bolted off to the kitchen to get Bella a glass of water to drink.

"Look, Jasper, I think we should let Bella and Emmett settle their score then we can play. She might have to go home soon and not get to play." He nodded in agreement, so I walked over to Bella. She stood up as I handed her the remote.

"Here you go, doll; you play first, so we can watch you boogie down and kick Em's ass again. We don't need to hear him sulk all night because you had to go home before you two had your showdown."

Just then Emmett jumped up and yelled, "Hell Yeah!"

"Emmett, language." Esme chastised them all for their 'dirty words' as she called it, but she never once tried to correct me on mine, and I'm dirtiest one of them all.

"Now get up there and shake that ass, girl!" Bella blushed profusely at my words.

"Peter, you step away from her, you dirty stinking dog!" Edward growled from the kitchen door when he came into the room. I was too close for comfort to Bella for his liking.

"Fuck you! I'm not gonna hurt her!"I growled back.

Instantly, he bolted in front of me, grabbed Bella, and flung her hard behind his back trying to get her away from me. A large crash and a scream came from Bella as she came down hard across the side table and the crystal vase that set upon it.

Edward snapped his head down instantly.

"Edward…..a…are you alright?" Bella managed to choke out. Her body was trembling lying on the floor, and she had a fearful look in her eyes.

At that moment, I took a deep breath. The scent of blood hit me full force, and in that instant three things happened at once: 1) I threw my shield out around me to encompass Jasper, Alice, Esme, Emmett and Rosalie; 2) Edward had Bella against the wall with his hand around her neck, her feet were dangling in the air, and his teeth were bared snarling in her face. 3) Alice screamed, "Get her out of here, Peter!"

"God! Get her out of here!" Again Alice screamed.

I was off like a lightning bolt. I grabbed Bella around the waist with my left arm while I plowed Edward in the jaw with a right hook dislocating the left jawbone and fracturing his chin in fifteen places. Edward's head snapped back, and he flew across the room making a large crack in the hard wood floors along the way.

With Bella clinging to my left shoulder and her legs around my waist, I barreled thru the front door out into the forest. I lifted my shield off Jasper and the others and covered Bella with it as I made my way thru the woods. Bella's body shook with fear; she began crying as I ran. I smelled the salty tears as they made their way down my neck and chest.

I ran hard thru the forest. I launched us onto a tree branch and swung us from limb to limb by one arm as I held Bella tight to my body with the other. I felt oddly like Tarzan at the moment swinging thru the vines with his Jane.

Moments later, I stopped high in the trees. I couldn't hear anyone following us, so I perched us up in the branches 50 feet in the air. I sat on a thick branch with my back propped against the large tree trunk with Bella's still shaking form around my chest and waist. She was still crying, so I held her. I held her till the sun began to set in the western sky.

She finally began to calm herself; she looked up at me and gave me a timid smile. I smiled back at her. She had been crying for twenty-seven minutes and gotten mucus and tears all over my shirt and her face. But, damn, she's still a sight for sore eyes.

"Are you alright, Bella?" I whispered to her as I wiped the tears off her cheek. My hand felt the fire of her skin; the warmth of her body alone was mesmerizing.

"I didn't hold you too tight, did I?" She didn't respond with words; she just shook her head no.

"I'm glad I didn't hurt you. Can we take a look at your leg?" She gave me a puzzled look.

"I'm ok, really. It all happened so fast. I was frightened. I'm sorry for crying. I was just shocked in the speed of it all."

"Your leg doesn't hurt at all?"

"No. My leg is fine. Why do you ask?"

"Are you sure, Bella? Because you're bleeding pretty good from what I can smell."

"B..bl..bleeding? I'm bleeding?" She stammered out, fear crossing her face instantly.

"You have nothing to fear from me, Bella. I will not hurt you. Focus, focus on me, Bella. Do you see my eyes? Can you tell me what color they are?"

"Umm…Yes, your eyes are a very beautiful crimson red." She held my gaze for some time before looking away. Fuck me. She's beautiful.

"W..wh…why did you ask me that Peter?"

"The color of my eyes is important when it comes to certain things, doll. They become darker when I don't feed and I'm thirsty, as you must notice with the Cullen's." She shook her head 'yes' in understanding.

"They also become pitch black when bloodlust affects me, and since I have no bloodlust at this time, they are the sexy red that we both adore so much." I said that last part with a wink earning me another beautiful smile.

"Edwards's eyes were black, Peter. They were so black when he looked at me." Her body began to tremble again in that moment.

"Yes, they were black doll. I reckon you already know why I got you outta there when I did." She shook her head 'yes' again in response.

"Thank you very much for getting me out of there Peter."Fuck me if I didn't like the way my name rolls off her tongue. It gave me the shivers. Hell, I've never shivered before; this is something new to me.

"You're welcome; now, let's take a look at that leg, doll."

She hesitated for a moment before bringing her right leg up a little and then putting it back down again.

"I'll fall if I move my leg up, Peter. We have to get down first."

"That's ridiculous. I've got you; you'll never fall even if we were a thousand feet up."

"Okay, if you're sure. I trust you." Well, holy shit! That shocked the fuck out of me right where I sit.

"I'm glad, Bella. Truly, you never have anything to worry about with me. I'll never hurt you, and if I can help it, I'll never let anyone or anything hurt you either." What the fuck is spewing out of my mouth? Fuck me all to hell.

Bella lifted her leg, so we could inspect the damage that was done. I'll be damned if I thought there were this many cuts. Bella had several gaping wounds on her leg from the crystal vase that was broken when she was thrown into it slicing her leg in many places starting with the area four inches above her inner right knee.

Bella gasped at the damage we found and the blood that was leaking down her leg into her shoe. She started to panic.

"What the hell? Why didn't I feel this till now?" She was puzzled. I knew the adrenaline that was pumping thru her blood was the reason she didn't feel the cuts before now.

"Adrenaline. It's all thru your blood right now and then fear over powered everything. The human mind shuts off things it doesn't want to deal with at times."

"What am I gonna do, Peter? My dad's on the reservation fishing right now, and I can't go back there bleeding like this." I lifted my back off the tree and removed my shirt for her to wipe some of the blood on. It would help, but her cuts were still bleeding pretty badly.

"Thank you for your shirt, but I'm going to need at least fifty stitches." She looked very pissed off at the moment. I was too because stitches were going to fuckin' leave scars on those beautiful legs of hers.

"How could you possibly know how many stitches you're gonna need, Bella? Are you taking classes to become a doctor?" I thought she was only in high school at the moment.

"I'm an expert on injury, Peter. I've had so many in my life now." Okay, I guess that explains it then, the klutz in a house of vampires. How very interesting.

"Damn, now I'm going to have nasty scars all down my leg. I don't want that! Damn it!" I couldn't believe her profanity. She looks too sweet to swear.

"I'll have the stitches for weeks, and then I'll have scars for the rest of my life."

"Ya know, doll, scars aren't so bad. I've got quite a few myself." I said stating a fuckin' fact.

"I don't see any scars, what are you talking about, Peter. Vampire's don't get scars?" Could she really not see them that well? I'm sitting here in just a pair of jeans. I've got scars on my arms, chest and such, and she can't see them? I lifted my arms from around her and put my forearm up to her face, so she could inspect my arm and the scars.

"Do you see how the rays of the setting sun reflect off this skin right here differently?" I pointed to a few scars in one area by my elbow. "Those are venom scars. They happened when I was bitten and venom was injected into my body." She grabbed my arm and looked closer, shock hitting her when she saw the teeth impressions in my skin.

"I really don't see much difference between the two Peter. It just looks a little bit silvery looking, and it sparkles a bit more. Is that all it does?"

"Well, to your human eyes they are very much the same, and in a brighter light, they would stick out more. To a vampire and their eyesight, they are a beacon to stay away from me, that I am dangerous." She looked up into my eyes when I finished my words.

"I don't know if I believe that you could be dangerous, Peter. You haven't hurt me."

"I am a dangerous man, Bella. I always have been. I am a human drinking vampire; I should actually be your worst nightmare. But now, that just might be Edward Cullen." She winced, understanding hitting her full force. Tears began to fall down her cheeks again.

"Hey now, don't start that shit again. I understand you're hurt, but we need to take care of this bleeding problem you have. I'm in complete control of myself, but enough is enough. I am a vampire after all, remember?" I couldn't help but laugh because I fuckin' chastised her for cryin', and in the same breath, I warned her about bleeding too much, and then reminded her, of all people, that I'm a vampire.

"Alright, Peter, what do we do? I can't go back to the Cullen's house like this, and my dad can't take me to the hospital right now, but even if he could, I don't want those stitches to leave a scar." I thought maybe there was more to it than that, so I asked.

"You don't like needles do you, doll?" I earned a laugh with my question, and she shook her head no.

"No, not at all, I can't stand them."

**Thank you everyone who has taken the time to review my story. Thank you all for reading let me know how much you enjoyed it by leaving me a new review for this chapter.**

**A special thanks again to my girls Juliangelus & noncanon4me! You know what you do, and you know what you mean to me ladies!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't own anything Twilight that belongs to the great Steph Meyer. I do, however, own a lot of pictures of Joe Manganiello, for he is my inspiration for Peter in this story, lovely beard and all. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. **

**Crimson Knight**

Chapter 5

As Bella sat straddled across my lap on the tree branch examining her cuts, the realization hit me as to how precarious and intimate our position really was. I'd never thought anything about it till she started squirming around on my lap. The skirt she had worn today was riding awfully high on her thigh right now. I watched every move she made.

I'd seen her body before at different times but nothing this close. Fuck me, now that I was concentrating on her and that damn skirt, the heat from her body was soaking into my thighs where she sat.

"Peter, does venom seal wounds or only make them?" What? What was she talking about?

"What do you mean, doll?"

"Can venom heal human wounds?" Where was she going with this?

"Bella, when a human is bitten, the venom courses thru their veins and repairs any and all damage that the body has sustained. It makes it new and improves everything, so it will last for an eternity. Why do you ask?" Call me fuckin' curious, because that's what I am.

"No, Peter, I'm not talking about being turned. I know about that part of it but, I don't think I'm that bad off; am I?"

"No, you aren't. Wait, are you asking me to seal those for you?" Wow. Just….wow. I know I've never been thrown off like this before but damn. Is she really asking me to seal her open, bleeding wounds?

"If it's not too much trouble and you can handle doing so, then yes, I am asking you to help me out, so I don't have to go to the hospital. I really hate needles, Peter." Those damn brown begging eyes.

"Ugh! Fuck! You're serious about this? The venom will leave a silver scar where it heals Bella. It will be there for life. I'm not sure what will happen either. If I use too much venom it could trigger a change in you, and if it does then I'll have to fully turn you or end it." I was pretty fuckin' serious, and she felt it.

"I understand, Peter. If something happens and the change starts, please change me fully; I'm not ready to die."

"And you've thought about this long enough to weigh the options against death or an eternity as a death machine?" I really had to know. I was never given the option.

"You'd be bound to me for eternity, Bella, seeing as how I'd be the one to turn you. Is that something you'd be prepared for?" I was bound to Jasper for life, but I'd be bound to him as a brother even if he wasn't my sire.

"Yes, I understand that, Peter, but I do need your help." I hesitated, thinking of what she was really asking me to do.

"Will you help me, please?" She pleaded with me. "Please Peter?"

"Alright, I'll do it!" I was defeated at this point. It seemed as though she really did think about it. "You should also know, I mean, if you're not already aware of the fact, each vampire has a unique smell. With my venom blessing your skin, you'd smell like me to every other vampire you ever come in contact with, Bella."

"I'm ok with that. Edward, he smells really sweet to me. The others do as well, but I couldn't smell you earlier. How can I smell you now?" Were we gonna have to get into all this right now? All because of fuckin' Eddie's stupid ass! I'm gonna kick his ass so hard for this! Ha, his fuckin' face should be healed by now; little bitch is gonna need to hunt to seal _that_ broken jaw. I smiled at this, a little revenge for hurting Bella.

"Well, no one can smell me unless I lessen my shield strength or encompass them with me in it, Bella. I know you are aware of the gifts that some vampires possess. I have a gift as well; it's a physical shield. I can manipulate it to do what I need. When it's up and strong, Edward can't even read my thoughts. I imagine that's one reason why he hates me." I laughed picturing his last expression when he tried to read my mind.

"Edward says he can't read my mind, either. He has never been able to."

"That's fuckin' awesome!" Really I'd never heard of a human being immune to a vampire's gift before.

"Can Alice see your future?"I already knew by my talks with Jasper that he could feel her emotions but I wasn't sure if he could manipulate them or not. "What about Jasper? Can he manipulate your emotions?" I was really curious now.

"Yeah, they can. Only Edward can't read my mind." Well fuckin' color me happy; this was wonderful news.

"That's great to hear, Bella; at least you know your thoughts are safe as well. I hate to change the subject, especially when it's about the many ways to piss little Eddie off, but we really should get those wounds sealed up now. We'll also need to burn your shoes and stuff once we get back. I'll have to burn my shirt and my jeans as well. I'm not sure how much blood got on them, but from the feel and smell of it, a lot; you held your legs around me for quite awhile."

"Okay, what do you want me to do?" She was nervous.

"Just hold still. I'll have to make direct contact with the wounds with my venom."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I'll have to lick your wounds so to speak, Bella." She turned red with blush with the realization of that fact.

"Just sit still, I've got you wrapped in my shield. You can't fall; I won't let you." She nodded her head in understanding.

I took Bella's right leg into my hands and checked the wounds once more. Fresh blood was seeping out with every pump of her heart. I let venom pool in my mouth and began to seal the lower cut first. With fresh venom on the flat of my tongue, I slowly let it trickle down and onto her leg. I lapped my tongue over the area making sure the venom coated every inch of the wound.

Her blood was sweet on my tongue. She tasted phenomenal unlike anything I've ever tasted before, and I've tasted a lot of fuckin' blood. I gently slid her closer to me the farther up her leg I went. I watched the first wound heal its self as I began to bathe the second wound on the tender flesh on the side of her knee.

"Mmmm." I looked up at Bella as I sealed the second wound. Her eyes were closed, and she was biting her bottom lip, and fuck me if she wasn't moaning.

I slid her still further up my body, so I could fully reach the final wound on the inner part of her knee. My hand held firm to her leg as she wiggled around from my touch. I smelled her instantly, not her blood, _her. _I was fuckin' nose deep in blood, and I smelled _her_ over it. What's wrong with me? Damn this girl.

"Ohhh…yes." She quietly moaned out. I was lost in the smell that was Bella and blood. Somewhere between the second and the third wound healing, my fingers had made their way up Bella's thigh and into her panties.

I looked up from the wound to see Bella watching me now. Her eyes were totally on me while I bathed her in _my _venom sealing her wound and diving into her gloriously wet heaven. Fuck me! How the fuck did this happen? She felt me hesitate in my actions for a moment.

"Pl….please don't stop!" she breathed out.

What the fuck? She wanted more? Oh, I could give this little girl more. The fresh blood on Bella's leg still needed to be cleaned off so while I was there, I decided to do that while I was still busy other places. The fresh blood soon ran out, and Bella was still enjoying her healing session.

I couldn't help myself any longer. I tore her panties away from her body, grabbed her by the hips and lifted her to me. I placed her thighs one on each one of my shoulders and dove in. Bella fisted my hair in one hand and leaned forward placing the other on the trunk of the tree.

Oh, holy fuckin' hell! She tasted sweeter than her blood, and I didn't even know how that was possible.

"Oh Peter…please! OhmyGod!" The sound of nothing but pleasure in her voice begging me not to stop set my very being off kilter. The beast within let loose a large and rough growl into my new found sanctuary. The vibrations brought Bella to an instant release around me. Her body trembled and shook against me.

"Holy. Fucking. Shit!" Bella screamed and those words from her mouth to my ears were heaven alone. It's like she knew my exact thoughts at that exact moment. I felt entirely whole. I felt somehow new like somehow a part of me had been missing all these years. This girl, this human girl, somehow she was the key. I made myself a vow. I was not leaving Forks without her by my side. I'll be fucked if I do, and fuck anyone who tries to stop me.

When her body calmed a bit from its high, I gently sat Bella back down straddling my lap once again. I couldn't help but smile; she fell against my chest while trying to catch her breath. She let out a satisfied sigh.

I slowly rubbed up her bare thighs and up her back. The wonderful scent of Bella was all around me. I lifted her chin, so I could look into her eyes. She blinked several times at me, and then tried to back away from me in a sudden panic.

"P…Pe…Peter! Your….eyes….. your eyes are starting to get really dark, are you ok? Did my bl….blood bother you too much?" I let out another small growl. Fuckin' Edward Cullen and his motherfuckin' blood lust!

"Doll, calm down, I'm ok. My eyes aren't turning dark; they're returning to my normal crimson color. I guess I neglected to also mention that good old fashioned regular lust makes our eyes darken in color when we're turned on, as well. I just didn't think it was necessary at the time to mention it. Well, fuck, if I wasn't wrong about that one!" Oh, I earned a big time blush with that one.

"Oh, my God, I'm so sorry Peter; I didn't mean to…..I'm so sorry!" She hid her face in her hands. We couldn't have that now, could we?

"Whoa, what's wrong, Bella?" I asked as I took her hands away from her beautiful face.

"I don't want you to get me wrong here; I'm very thankful for you helping me. I just didn't mean to do that. I've never done that before, and I'm sorry, Peter; I really am."

"What are you sorry for? You didn't enjoy it? Wait a minute; you said you never did that before; you mean you've never…" She cut me off before I could get it all out.

"No. I've never done anything like that before, but…I enjoyed it very much." She looked down again; damn, why was she so self conscious? She's beautiful; she's passionate, and fuck me, that was sexy.

My phone went off with an alert to a text message—fuckin' Jasper. It could only be him right now.

"Hang on a minute, Bella. I have to answer this message, or he'll have a search team out looking for us; I'd imagine."

"Why would they do that? Can't he just track us down from our scents?"

"Well, if you'll remember, I told you no one can smell me when I have my shield up. When I was running back here, I had my shield up, as I do now, so they'd never find us unless we made a lot of noise."

"Oh, I see. What do we do? Are we supposed to go back to the house now? Is everyone ok?"

"Why are you worried about everyone else? You're the one who almost became a meal at the hands of Edward Cullen who, by the way, is gonna have his ass handed to him when I get back. Little self righteous fuck! He runs his mouth about me and my bloodlust, and he can't hold his shit when you spill a little blood."

"I'm his singer, Peter." She sounded sad like it was her fault he hurt her.

"I don't give a fuck if you sing for him or not; there's no fucking excuse for that shit, NONE! We're going to head back in a few minutes. We need to get our asses out of this tree, and I need to jump to do it. So I'm going to have you wrap your arms around my neck and your legs around my waist like we did when we were running earlier, okay?"

She just nodded her 'yes' in confirmation that she understood what I needed her to do.

"I'm going to stand up; you just hold onto me, alright?" I stood up with her body pressed against mine. She was so warm; she brought her legs up, and I helped her secure them around my waist. My new little slice of heaven and her thighs were still wet and hot against my stomach.

"Gggrrrrrr" I couldn't stop the growl that came. This was driving me insane. How can I run us back like this? A lot of fucking strength, that's how. Once Bella was secure against my chest, I grabbed the branch across from me and swung down. I dangled there for a moment so the fall didn't scare her and dropped us down to the ground.

I sat Bella down for a moment, so she could stand and straighten herself out; we'd been in that tree for some time. Once she was down, my phone begun to ring. Damn it, I didn't get back to Jasper fast enough; I picked up my phone answering him.

"Yes, Jasper, we're ok. How is everyone back there?"

"Fuck! Pete, why didn't you call or text me before now? We were worried about you both! Alice can't see you, you know, and when you left with Bella, she couldn't see her, either."

"Can she see her now?" I asked him just to get him to relax a bit.

"No, she can't see either of you. That's why I had to call. Rose and Emmett took Edward out to hunt."

"Good, that motherfucker is gonna get his ass kicked when I see him again. They better have taken him to hunt his natural food source, so this shit won't happen again."

"Now Pete, you know they didn't; it won't happen. Edward feels nothing but remorse and pain for what he did."

"He feels pain? He fuckin' feels pain? What the fuck does he think Bella went thru? Fuckin' pain? He's a fuckin' pain in my ass; that's what he is!"

"Carlisle isn't too happy with him either right now; he's just got in from the hospital, and well, he wants to check Bella out and make sure she's ok."

"It's fine now; I took care of it." He was silent while the hiss of vampires could be heard in the background. I laughed darkly.

"Fuckin' chill out! She's just fine. Here talk to her a minute." I handed Bella the phone and examined my jeans. Yep, I'd have to burn these too, and I just got to wear 'em this one time.

"I'm fine, everyone. I was just shook up a bit. Peter will bring me back there in a minute, okay?"

"Damn, Bella, we were so worried about you. Alice can't see you; Peter didn't bring you back right away…"

That's just stupid; I had to interrupt. "Now, why would I do that, you fucktard? Bloodlust is running rampant at the Cullen home, and you want me to bring back the meal? Catch a fuckin' clue, not gonna happen. Now that the little bitch is gone, I'll bring her back."

They all heard me; just like I'd heard them. I'd be damned if I let her out of my sight tonight. She's covered with my scent. She has my venom in her skin. She smells like me; this made me proud. I so desperately wanted to pound my fist across my chest and yell like Tarzan thru the jungle.

After Bella hung up the phone, I leaned down so that she could wrap her arms around my neck easier. With her legs around my waist yet again today, I started running back to the Cullen place.

"What do we say to them, Peter? I mean about what happened…..between us."

"Nobody needs to know anything you don't want them to know Bella." I was ready to tell them all to get fucked; that's what I was ready to do. I wanted Bella now. I wanted her for my own.

We were about three miles away from the Cullen home, so I pulled my cell out and texted Jasper to leave a garbage bag for our bloody clothes and some fresh pants or a robe to wear. He'd have it ready for us in the backyard before we got there.

Just as we made it thru to the backyard, I saw the pile of clothes and the bag waiting for us. I grabbed the pile with Bella still attached to me and ran over behind the garage to change out of the blood stained clothes. I sat her down and opened the bag for the dirty clothes.

I turned around to give her some sort of privacy to change out of the soiled clothing. In order for us to change out of the dirty clothes, I need to manipulate my shield so that we would be encompassed completely under a dome type. I didn't want to drop the shield completely; I was still on edge and needed to protect her to my fullest. I slid my bloodied jeans off and replaced them with the sweat pants that Jasper had left for me. I waited patiently for Bella to let me know when she was done changing.

"Okay, Peter, I'm finished." I turned around; she was wearing one of Alice's silky bath robes. By the light of the moon, I could see the perfect outline of her breasts; the material did absolutely nothing to hide her form. I immediately adjusted my protective shield for the both of us.

"Peter? What's wrong?" I stood there staring at her for I don't know how long before I actually spoke.

"I need to burn these clothes before we go back into the house. We can't leave bloody clothes just lying around, especially here."

"Where do we burn them?"

I grabbed the bag and headed toward a large metal barrel that I knew Jasper had burned things like this in before.

"You just stay there, Bella. I'll light these up, and I'll be back over in a minute." I dropped the bag into the barrel, took out my lighter and lit a small corner of Bella's bloody skirt. The fire quickly spread to the rest of the clothes. In no time flat, I was again by Bella's side.

"Are you ready to go back in now, Bella?" She still had a worried look on her face; I still had to reassure her that I wasn't going to let anything happen to her.

"I don't know if I can see him right now, Peter. I don't know what to do." She was genuinely worried about the new situation.

"You don't have to see or talk to anyone you don't want to. I'll be there with you, Bella, as long as you want me to be."

"Let's get this over with; I'd kindly like to take a shower before I have to go home." She forced a nervous laugh.

I picked Bella up, held her against my chest, and started towards the house. I didn't want anyone near her right now; she was still too shook up to be questioned. I needed for Jasper to get everyone out of the living room and out of the way, so I could get her into Alice's room so she could shower. I wanted to take her to my fuckin' room, but I wasn't sure how she'd feel about that right now.

"Jasper, we're on our way up" I stated in a normal tone knowing that he'd hear me. "Bella isn't ready for this. Please get everyone out of the doorway and living room, so I can get her into yours and Alice's room. Just have Alice leave her some clothes out on the sink in your bathroom."

"Sure thing, Pete. We'll all convene in the dining room 'till you get done."

"Thanks for the clothes, Jasper. We really appreciate it." I was serious; I do really appreciate how my brother falls into step with me. He knows when I request something like this of him there is a good reason behind it.

"Thank you for helping me, Peter; I'm not sure what would've happened if you hadn't been here for me today."

"You're welcome, Bella. Like I said, I won't let anything happen to you. If you need anything, just let me know, and I'll be there."

As we approached the house, I could hear the hushed voices within. I ignored them and took Bella straight to Jasper and Alice's room. There was no way in hell I was letting her shower and stay in Edward's room. Fuck That!

I knew our combined scents were still hidden as long as I held my shield over her. I gently put Bella down on the bathroom floor and took a step back from her.

"I'll wait outside this door while you take care of what you need to Bella. If you need anything, I can help you out, or I can have Alice help you."

"Thank you, again, for everything, but I should be just fine."

I stepped out of the bathroom closing the door behind me. I was not leaving their room 'till she was done. I stood stock still while I heard her turn the shower on. I was dreading the moment when I took my shield from around her body. How would they react to smelling my venom on her skin? Would my own brother still welcome me in his home?

**A special thanks again to my girls Juliangelus & noncanon4me! You know what you do, and you know what you mean to me ladies! **

**What did you guys think? Did Peter do what he should've knowing she is not his? Or should he have taken her to the hospital on his own? **

**Thanks to everyone who added me to their favorite, who is following and who all reviewed!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't own anything Twilight. That belongs to the great Steph Meyer. I do, however, own a lot of pictures of Joe Manganiello, for he is my inspiration for Peter in this story, lovely beard and all. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. Thanks for everyone who added me to their favorites and those of you who are now following me. That makes me so happy! **

**Crimson Knight**

Chapter 6

"Let me know when you're ready for me to release my shield completely, Bella." If I left it around her with the strength that it was at the moment, the water and soap would never penetrate it. She'd wash the shield and not her body.

"Alright, Peter, you can take it down; I'm ready to get in the shower."I slowly pulled my shield away from her body, and growls erupted from the floor below us as I did.

"You better wash fast, doll, then wash again for good measure. Make sure you get the areas where your blood dried on your skin extra well. The Veggies are getting antsy down there; I'm not sure what scent they're upset about, though." I wasn't sure what had their senses piqued, the scent of Bella's blood, her arousal, or my venom interlacing them both.

Upon smelling her arousal, I was sent back to the events that took place in that damn tree. What the hell was going on with me? I know that she's Edwards girl, but why am I feeling like it wasn't gonna happen after today? Could I let her be anywhere near him after this? I want what I want, and I find myself wanting Bella. I'm a selfish fuckin' bastard; I know there's _no way_ I can let this go easily.

Within moments, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Jasper and Alice were approaching. I didn't want anyone near her until she was ready for them. Besides that fact, the scent of her blood has intensified with the heat of the water, I wasn't sure they could handle it, so I threw my protective shield over them both as a precaution.

"You better stay the fuck back, Jasper. She's not ready for this yet," I growled.

"We just want to check on her. Alice still doesn't have a clear vision of her, and she says her visions of her are blurry now." Oh shit…what does that mean? My shield has been down. I fully pulled it away from her; maybe I'm affecting her visions inadvertently by being in close distance to Bella with my shield even though I'm not encompassing her with it.

As far as I'd known, I'd never had an effect on Jasper in Alice's visions. If I had, someone should've fuckin' told me well before now, damn it! I know she doesn't like it if he's under my shield when it's thick because he becomes a blur to her. She can't see me at all, at any time. But why is Bella a blur now? She's not under my shield, and my shield is thin, not thick.

I heard Bella shut off the water in the shower. I wanted so badly to open the door to check on her, so I turned for a moment before knocking lightly on the door.

"I'm almost finished," her soft voice let out.

"It's alright. I just wanted to check and make sure you didn't need anything right now."

"No, I'm fine, Peter. Thank you."

"Bella! Are you ok?" asked Alice. She just couldn't let it go. I already said she was just fine now, didn't I?

"A…Al….Alice? W….wh…what are you doing up here? Peter said you were downstairs with the others." I growled because I know I damn well said that, but these two fuckers just couldn't listen.

"I told them to stay downstairs, Bella, but as you and I both know, some people gotta put their noses where they don't belong!" I glared at Jasper while I said this because he damn well knew I needed them to stay put. Bella needed them both to stay put. But this was one of those times where the meddling little vampire had to shove her fuckin' nose all up in someone else's business.

"How can you be so casual about this, Peter? How can you say that Bella isn't any of our business? She's my best friend for crying out loud!" Oh good, I managed to piss the elf off a little.

"Casual? Really, Alice, you're asking me about being so casual?" Because, fuck me, she was the one being so damn casual.

"You walk right up here like nothing happened today! Like fuckin' Eddie had not only hurt Bella, but then topped it off by damn near making her his fuckin' dinner! Do you really wanna talk to me right now about who's being so motherfuckin' casual?" My last words came out as a growl. She looked down where she and Jasper's fingers were intertwined. I had to get it all out.

"If I recall correctly, _Alice_, and I know for a fuckin' fact that I do, you were the one who insisted that I get her the hell outta this house. Me, Alice, you screamed for me to get her out, and now what? I'm being casual for taking care of her? She's a bit put off by you guys at the moment. And I think that you should back the fuck off me because I did nothing but take care of her!"

Jasper stepped forward one step causing me to growl at him and bare my teeth. He knew better than that shit. I was in the zone. I'd been in protection mode for hours now, and he knows he doesn't want to fuck with me right now. He put his hands up showing me he was going no further and spoke.

"Captain, there is no need for you to be so hostile toward my mate. She is simply worried about our friend. Please calm down, or allow me to help you."

A small and timid voice came from behind me at that moment, "It's alright Peter; it's their room; it's fine."

"Like hell it's fine, Bella." I never took my eyes off of the Major. "I don't give a damn if the room belongs to the motherfuckin' President of The United States; when I ask for space, I fuckin' expect to have all the space we need." Jasper took a step back at my words. He knew he fucked up by listening to the tiny vampire at his side.

I turned toward Bella and encompassed her with my shield while removing it from Jasper and Alice. I didn't want them to be able to touch her right now.

I had found that anything that I protected under my shield could intertwine with each other and pass between the shields with no problem. But anything on the outside could not pass unless I willed it to let them pass thru. Needless to say, I let nothing pass thru at this time. Not a damn thing!

A horrifying scream let out in the room just as I had cut the shield from Alice and encompassed Bella with it. Two seconds later we were privileged to have Carlisle and Esme in Jasper and Alice's bedroom as well.

Alice was on the floor with her knees up to her chest rocking back and forth screaming and rubbing her temples over and over again. Jasper had knelt down beside her trying to get her to talk to him and tell him what was wrong. Bella had managed to hide behind me while this was going on. None of us knew what the hell Alice was screaming about.

"No! No! No! Why is this happening? _Why?_" Alice was chanting the same words over and over again.

"Alice, you have to tell us what's happening. Are you having a vision? Are Rose, Emmett and Edward alright?" Jasper was worried; I could hear it in his voice.

"I can't see her, Jasper!" She managed to sob out. "I can't see Bella anymore. _Why_? I know she's right there. Why can't I see her anymore?" Are you fuckin' kidding me?

"That's what the fuck all the screaming was about, Alice? You can't '_see_' her?"

"Now, son, something serious is happening here; Alice has always been able to see Bella." Poppa Cullen had to pipe in there with his two fuckin' cents worth.

"What transpired this afternoon while I was at the hospital? What happened to Bella or Alice that could cause this to occur?" Carlisle placed his thumb and forefinger on his chin while he was lost in thought.

I took that moment to look at Bella who was now looking up at me with that knowing look. I knew what she was thinking, but neither one of us was ready to be forthcoming with _that_ kind of information; the kind he was looking for. Jasper stopped his mumbling to Alice and stared straight at me.

"I can feel everyone in this room right now, apart from you two." He pointed his fingers at Bella and me in an accusing way. "Now for you, Peter, that's nothing new to me. But you, Bella, that's not happened before. Are you shielding her now, Peter?"

Oh fuck!

"As a matter of fact, I am, Jasper. Why the fuck is it any concern of anyone else at this time?" He stood up and was now facing me.

"Drop the shit Captain! Why do you feel the need to encompass Bella in your shield now?" I stepped forward brining Bella right along with me.

"After the bullshit that went down today, _Major,_ do you really believe that Bella would feel comfortable right off the get go being back here so soon? I'm protecting her till she tells me she's alright bein' without it! I made the promise to _her _not _you_." With my words, Jasper dropped his glare from me to Bella and back again.

"Alright, I can deal with that." He said with a sigh. When you put it like it is, the Major usually never has a problem with anything. It's just how you put it to him is all. At my side, I also felt Bella sigh in relief.

"So, from what I'm understanding is that you, Peter, and Edward had some sort of confrontation this afternoon that resulted in Bella being injured?"

"Whoa, back the fuck up! I didn't do anything to injure Bella. This shit is all on Edward and his fucked up little vampire boy tantrum. He threw Bella behind his back across the table and the vase which resulted in her being injured. I was simply talking to her in the company of the family in the living room. He stormed in and threw a fit about me talking to her. That's all there is. It was he who then lost his shit and pinned her up against the wall by her fuckin' neck making like he wanted to snack on her." I let this bit sink in before going on.

"As I recall, it's been Edward for the last week or more that's been running his mouth about my bloodlust not being in check. Whose bloodlust isn't in check? Certainly not mine!"

The back door to the Cullen home was opened, and we were joined now by the missing three. A very put off Rose, a relaxed Emmett, and a very pissed off and worried looking Edward. I glared at him, and a low growl rumbled thru my chest. Bella placed her hand upon my right arm to calm me her actions causing little Eddie boy to growl in response.

"Get away from her!" Edward yelled.

"Fuck you! She wants me here!" I growled back at him taking a step forward. Bella not wanting to part from my side was right on stride with me.

"Why would she want you anywhere near her? _She's afraid of you_!" Edward spat at me.

"_Me_? She's afraid of _me_? I don't think so! You might want to check the mirror on that last statement though, Eddie boy! What are you now? Huh? The pot or the kettle?"

"Who-"Eddie didn't get to finish.

"Enough! Edward!" It was Esme who put a stop to his bullshit this time. "You, son, chose your actions this afternoon which resulted in Bella being hurt. You do still owe her an apology. I _will not_ stand for _any_ of my sons to hurt the women in their lives in any way, shape or form; you _will_ apologize until she accepts it. Even if it takes forever for her to do so." She added to the now quiet room.

"Now, Peter, Alice took the liberty to call Charlie and ask for her to stay here with us for the night. We did not know when she would be returning back here tonight, so we covered that base." Esme informed us as well.

"Bella, dear, you may sleep in any room you feel comfortable in considering today's events. No one will argue with that, and I mean no one. Do I make myself clear?"

A chorus of "Yes, ma'am" rang thru the house from all the Cullen "children" except for Edward.

"Esme, this isn't right! Bella is _my_ girlfriend; she always stays in _my_ room. She can stay in there tonight, as well." Oh, he's a fuckin' snotty little bastard.

"I'll be damned if you're gonna tell her what to do, Edward! She has a mind of her own. If she's not comfortable in your room, she is more than welcome to stay anywhere she likes in _my _house! I do believe that Esme did say this was not to be contested, am I right?" Carlisle all but growled back at his first born son. Edward kept his head down because he knew not to test the "father" of the family.

Carlisle stepped forward toward Bella and I when he finished his tongue lashing. Bella stayed slightly behind me at this point and looked back at Carlisle with tears starting again in her eyes. He looked sad and genuinely worried about her well being. Jasper had mentioned on the phone earlier that Carlisle was upset with Edward; I'd never heard him talk to anyone like that before, let alone little Eddie.

"Bella, sweetheart, I know Edward scared you today, and what he did was totally uncalled for. On behalf of my family, I apologize that something like this happened under my roof. Edward _will _make his own formal apology to you as well once he's calm enough to deliver a proper statement to you."

I looked down at Bella by my side noting the look of worry in her eyes. I wasn't sure if it was his words that worried her or the closeness of all the Cullen's in the room. She opened her mouth and closed it several times before actually getting her statement out.

"Thank you, Carlisle, but what happened today was not yours or anyone else's fault. Edward was the one who attacked me. I….I never thought he could do that to me." Bella began to cry and her body slumped against me. I put my arm around her to keep her from falling.

Edward looked disgusted and ashamed at her words. He better fuckin' well be ashamed for this shit. She _was_ his girlfriend, and he still managed to hurt her like that. He claimed she was his mate. No mate could ever hurt the other, _ever, _no matter the reason.

"Love, I'm so-"I couldn't let him finish!

"I'm going to fuckin' _kill _you for this!" I growled to him. I was gonna have murder on my hands once again, but this time it was gonna be Edward fuckin' Cullen.

Edward started to lunge at me; I clutched Bella a bit tighter as he did so. He never made it further than two steps before Emmett and Jasper both grabbed him and slammed him back against the wall successfully restraining him there as Esme reached his side and slapped him across the face. This tactic was used to instill shame on another vampire. A slap never really hurt physically; it hurts your pride.

I leaned down and scooped Bella into my arms and held her against my chest. Taking a deep breath, she laid her head upon me and closed her eyes. The feel of her skin and wet hair against my still naked chest felt amazing. As her warm breath ghosted over my skin, I closed my eyes at the feel of it. I was brought back to the now by Carlisle's next words.

"Bella, honey, I really need to take a look at your leg. Will you let me do that now?"

She looked up at me cautiously and hesitated before she spoke, "I'm really not sure it's necessary, Carlisle. I'm not bleeding anymore." He looked puzzled for a moment.

"Bella, I was under the impression that you were cut pretty badly today. Esme and Alice cleaned up the blood from the floor after you left."

Consequences be damned; I decided it was time for them to know how I sealed her wounds. None of them would like it at all, but right now, it wasn't about them. It was about Bella, and what she wanted.

"Carlisle, Bella and I already took care of the problem while we were out earlier; no needles or doctors were required this time." Every eye was now on me and Bella. No one spoke; no one moved. They just took in the sight of Bella still cradled in my arms.

"Son, I'm led to believe by your words that either the damage was not as we suspected, or a higher form of healing was rendered. Which one would it be?"

"I was asked to seal the wounds with my venom, so I did." Growls and hisses erupted through the room. Bella's head snapped up to watch the scene unfold before her.

"You son of a bitch! How could you touch my girlfriend like that? What gives you the right to touch her at all? In fact, you put her down, right now!" Edward roared from the clutches of his brothers. Jasper and Emmett still kept him pinned firmly against the wall.

"Peter, will you put me down for a moment, please?" Bella's little sweet voice filled the panic filled room. I glared at everyone around the room and ended on Edward's pained expression. I really didn't wanna fuckin' do this, but I set Bella back down on her feet as the fire within her small frame exploded.

"Edward, stop! Stop it right now! I can't take this shit! You did this! _You_!" Bella was pissed off now. Her body trembled as she let her frustrations out upon her attacker.

"Everything was fine; everyone was having a great time today until your jealousy or whatever the hell it was got in the way. You hurt me because you thought you were doing what you thought was best for me! What you thought, not what I thought. If I thought that anyone of you were harmful to me, I never would've been here. Peter did nothing wrong. I asked for his help_. I did_." She placed her hand upon her chest taking the blame for the repair on her leg. It was her idea, but I agreed to do it.

I stepped up closer behind her and placed my hand on her shoulder showing her my support. Letting her know I was behind her one hundred percent.

"I really can't believe that you would, or could, blame Peter for any of this." Bella shook her head in disbelief. "He did nothing but help me today. I couldn't be more grateful." She smiled and looked into my eyes as she finished her statement. I couldn't help the demon man in me; I winked back at her.

"He's trash, Bella, nothing but murderous vermin" Edwards's disgust laced his words. Bella flinched at his hurtful words, and I'd had enough.

In a flash, I launched myself toward them pushing my shield out around me in a bubble shape to still encompass Bella. I kept her in my bubble because I still needed to protect her even though I was otherwise occupied. The larger the bubble the less room everyone else had to move around in which was an advantage to me. No one could pass thru but Bella and me. Individual bubbles would've also worked, but this was a space issue. I needed it, so I took it up with my shield. No one could get thru it now. I could feel Bella under the shield with me; she was calm at this point.

The pressure of my shield expanding knocked Emmett and Jasper away from Edward as I grabbed his fuckin' pencil neck bringing him into my shield with me. He kicked around me. Edwards's growls were cut off as I gripped his neck tighter.

"She smells of _nothing_ but you and you smell of _her_!" Eddie managed to choke out his disgusted words. Gasps of shock ripped thru the room; every expression was that of worry.

"Which one pisses you off more?" I growled back so only he could hear me. I couldn't help the smile that now blessed my face.

I dug my fingers into his neck causing venom to leak down my hand. I still squeezed tighter; oh, I was lovin' this shit. Edward needs to pay. I pressed my teeth into his right shoulder, and I injected venom to cause him pain, pain like he caused Bella. He garbled out words that couldn't be understood, and his body shook from the pain he was feeling.

"You little piece of shit, you will never talk to her like that again. Do you understand me? I am what I am; I don't pretend to be something I'm not. You don't judge me, motherfucker. I should burn your ass now!" My growl shook the room. Bella stepped toward me.

"Bella, don't move any closer. He's not stable right now, and he could hurt you!" Poppa Cullen was now on my shit list, as well. I could never hurt Bella.

"Peter, you don't need to do this." Carlisle had a tint of fear in his voice now. Everyone else remained silent.

"Jasper, please son, help Peter out." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jasper give a nod of understanding. I turned my head to meet his glare.

"Stand down, Captain. I believe that Edward has received his message. Further punishment shall not be delivered." He knows me better than anyone else; even though he gave me a command, Jasper knows I'll not stand down till my worthy punishment is delivered. He did this to comfort his "family".

"Like _hell,_ Major!" I roared back. I immediately bit into Edward's right shoulder again, and with a twist this time, his arm was now separated from his body and tossed onto the floor. Eddie boy's garbled roar was weak from the pain I was delivering to his sorry ass. Collective gasps fill the room the only one I cared about was the one that came from three feet behind me.

"Looks like you'll need to get your worthless, armless ass outta here and get some blood in you. Good luck motherfucker! Now your pristine pride and body will be scarred just like the rest of us. Even Bella, it's not fair that she carries immortal scars, and you don't!" I sneered at him.

"Consider punishment now delivered, Major, but next time—hell there better not be a next time—if he crosses paths with me again or does anything to harm Bella, his ass will be in pieces before anyone can stop me." I turned and faced Bella as I brought my shield back in close around us letting everyone else move about the room to help Eddie out.

"I'm sorry you couldn't deliver the punishment yourself, doll. I hope you're not too angry with me for doing it for you. I just couldn't let him get away with hurting you as if there were no consequences." She stepped up to me and looked into my eyes once again; she seemed fine. I was worried I might have scared her.

"Actually, I'm fine, Peter. Thank you." And with that her arms were around my waist, and her head was against my chest. She was hugging me. I put my arm around her and gave a little squeeze. It felt really nice.

"Get away from my girlfriend, you bastard!" He just doesn't know when to stop does he? I turned Bella and myself around to glare at Edward gripping his neck wounds as Carlisle gathered his arm up for reattachment.

"I think you better shut the fuckin' hole in your face before you find yourself in a whole heap of trouble you can't even begin to fathom boy! I just removed your arm, asshole, was that not enough for you to get the point?"

Carlisle answered for him as he dared Edward to speak again "He's got the point now, Peter. I don't believe that this was completely necessary; sure he did wrong, but does it really constitute limb removal? This is a very painful process to overcome." Is he fuckin' serious? He does know who he's talkin' to, so I'd say, yeah, he's officially lost his marbles.

"Carlisle, let's be glad this wasn't 70 years ago. Peter would've burned him without limb removal just for talkin' to him the way Edward does. I'm glad he stopped at an arm." Jasper gave me a small smile to show me he was impressed with my restraint with Edward. Now that's just one reason I love the hell outta my brother, he stands by me no matter what. I just hope that will remain when he finds out the full reasons behind mine and Bella's scents.

"I should've removed his fuckin' skull. Maybe then the nosey little shit would've gotten the point. He hurt Bella; he needed to be hurt in return. Limb removal was completely necessary." I couldn't help but laugh. Yeah, I'm a sadistic motherfucker.

**A special thanks again to my girls Juliangelus & noncanon4me! You know what you do, and you know what you mean to me ladies! **

**Check out Juliangelus page, she has 2 wonderful stories for you to check out, Peter's Spice and Tiger Stripes. Tell her I sent you. **

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	7. Chapter 7

**I don't own anything Twilight. That belongs to the great Steph Meyer. I just like to make Peter beat on Edward a little bit. SM would kill me if she knew.**

**Thanks for everyone who added me to their favorites and those of you who are now following me. That makes me so happy! We hit over 100 reviews with that last chapter! I'm so pumped. Thank you so much everyone for being so patient with me. I'm sorry it's a bit late, but you made out this time; it's way longer than normal.**

**Crimson Knight**

_Chapter 7_

I sat just outside the door to the room I used when I visited Jasper here with the Cullen's. My head lightly bounced off the wall for about the ten thousandth time since Bella fell asleep in _my bed_. I knew my excessive pounding on the wall was taking a toll on Jasper; he's been bitchin' 'bout it for the last hour. I just couldn't bring myself to give a fuck.

The moonlight sparkled off her hair as it shined thru the window; her soft skin looked like the finest porcelain ever made. Bella was sleeping so peacefully right now. It had taken her quite some time to fall asleep after the mind fuck of a day she'd had.

Every sigh, every deep breath she took shot right thru me. I wanted to be closer to her, but I didn't want her to feel smothered or hovered over. I knew she got enough of that from Edward, and I wasn't going there with her.

I peeked thru the open door at her once again and took a deep breath; she smelled so good. I couldn't help but smile to myself. Fuck yeah, she smells like me.

After Carlisle set Edward's arm and they took off to hunt again today, Alice spoke to Bella about her sleeping arrangements. I was amazed that she stood her ground about not sleeping in their room for the night. She wanted to take the other spare room on the third floor, but I wasn't having that.

She said she didn't feel right about taking my room from me. What the fuck did I need a bed for? Well besides for the obvious, I couldn't sleep. So I demanded she take it for the night. She smiled and finally agreed to it. It did give me tremendous satisfaction that she would smell even more like me when she woke up. Fact is, she is sleeping where I last laid down to read Jasper's book.

Carlisle took Edward out to hunt awhile ago. They've been gone for quite some time now. I would be happy if he never brought that sorry excuse of a fucked up son home ever again. I know he needed and deserved more than what I gave him tonight. I just didn't want to scare Bella any more. It's just that today she had gone thru enough emotional fucked-up stuff.

Edward Cullen and his motherfuckin' bloodlust, just the thought of his stupid ass made me shake my head. I know Jasper wanted me to stop because of Carlisle's request, but there was no way in hell I was letting him off the hook unscarred.

If Bella had to wear several new scars because of him, then so be it, so did he. The chuckle that left me was unstoppable when I thought of Eddie and his new set of scars. I wonder what the fuck he'd deem as "proper attire" for himself now that he's got scars to cover up.

Bella had asked me not to shield her while she slept. I argued a bit with her because I didn't feel right about not protecting her, so I settled for playing guard dog for the night. I wouldn't take it that fuckin' far, but I wouldn't let Eddie boy near her when he came back, at least not until she requested it,_ if_ she did.

"Ugh! I've had enough Peter; you need to stop that insufferable pounding." Jasper really was getting irritated with me now. "Would you please come into my study, Peter; I'd like to talk to you." Did he really mean now?

I sighed heavily and over exaggerated it so he got the point that I wasn't too fuckin' thrilled about moving right now. I did get up moments later to go see my brother. I did need to talk to him before the little piece of shit came back home.

I went up to the third floor to see Jasper in his study. I sat on the couch beside him, and put my feet up. I still hadn't bothered to shower or change my clothes since Bella and I came back to the house. I was currently a sweat-pant wearing, bare-foot motherfucker at the moment.

"Geez, Peter, you still haven't bothered to put clothes on?"

"No, Jasper, as you can tell, I have yet to put on 'proper attire'; I have been a bit busy _in case you don't remember_. " What can I say? I'm a sarcastic motherfucker, as well.

"Peter, I'm sorry for how things happened tonight." I let my shield down a bit and felt the honesty he was trying to send me. I couldn't let it down completely right now; I still had trace amounts of Bella's blood on my skin that had dried there some time ago. If I let it down before I got a shower to wash it off, the scent of human blood, Bella's blood, would linger in the Cullen home, and I couldn't have that. Bella couldn't afford that, not with fuckin' Edward around.

"I know, Jas, so am I to a point. Don't get me wrong, I'm not sorry I ripped Eddie's arm off. Hell, if I'd known Bella wouldn't have taken offense to it, I would have probably done more damage. The thing is I didn't want to do anything that would make the others feel threatened by me. That's the last thing I want."

"It's alright, Pete. I know they don't feel that way. It's just that they worry is all. They aren't used to things like this as a punishment like you and me. They're the more 'slap on the wrist' kinda family, have a meeting and put the punishment to a vote kinda thing."

"Yeah, I know! I'll tell you what, man; I can't stand the shit they let that little fucker get away with. He tells them what to do, not the leader of the coven taking the wheel. Damn, it shocked the shit outta me when Esme actually stood her ground and then slapped little Eddie in his face. I loved it." Jasper chuckled as well.

"Yeah, that was a surprise for sure."

"Peter?" He paused for a moment waiting for me to respond. I knew it was a serious question at this point.

"Yeah?"

"What happened today when you left with Bella? Was she afraid of you after you guys left the house?" The look of concern all over Jasper's face, worry lines would be showing if his skin wasn't harder than steel. I sighed again. How much would I have to tell him tonight?

"Well, when we left, she was crying her eyes out. She cried for some time, too. She wasn't even aware that she was fuckin' bleeding like she was either. She said her leg was fine when I asked her about it." Jasper just continued to stare at me with no expression on his face. "I had to pretty much convince her that she was hurt. When she saw it, she was angry that she would need to go to the hospital or get stitches and that it would leave fuckin' scars on her legs. That's how it all came up, Jasper, if that's what you're asking me?" He just nodded his head in response. "I told her scars weren't so bad, she didn't believe me so I showed her some of mine. They didn't freak her out either."

"So she really did ask you? That's crazy. Don't get me wrong, Peter. I knew you weren't lying to me; I just didn't know if I wanted to believe it or not. She actually asked you to do that after what happened to her here at the house with Edward."

"I'm not fuckin' Edward!" I growled out.

"I know! That's not what I was sayin', and you know it!"Jasper growled back.

"Fuck! I tried to talk her out of it Jasper. I did. I told her it might not be a good idea. I even told her it could change her if it took to much venom to seal the wounds. She was fine with it. Fuck, she even said to change her completely if it triggered the change in her!"

"You're fuckin' kiddin' me?"

"I'm as serious as a lit match! I explained it all to her, man. All of it! She was still fine as wine with it, too. So now for the rest of her life or eternity, she'll be blessed with my venom in the wounds that Eddie caused. Not to mention the fact that she'll smell like me till she dies like Edward wants her to as human, or she's turned into an immortal like she's hinting it's what she wants."

"He'll never do it. I've felt his emotions about it. Alice has told him she's seen Bella as one of us, but Edward has fought her on it. He said he didn't want to change her. He didn't want to take her life away from her. Hell, he said he couldn't damn his mate like that." I shook my head and Jasper just nodded in return.

"There's no way in _hell_ she's his mate Jasper; you know it and so do I."Jasper looked at me knowingly but didn't respond. "If Bella was Edward's mate, he'd be gnawing at the bit to change her now. You can't be separated from your mate from what I hear. Hell, I'm willing to bet that after today's bullshit that he just wants to keep her around, so he can be tempted by her blood. Keep her blood safe."

"Well, I hope for Bella's sake that he doesn't do that. We both know how dangerous it is for her around here. She'd be smart to keep her distance from him for awhile after today. But I know Bella; she'll probably more than likely be fine when she wakes up. She's always the forgiving type especially towards Edward." I was more than pissed by the time Jasper was done.

"I'll kill him, Jasper. I will not fuckin' hesitate one moment if that little motherfucker tries his shit again. She doesn't deserve that shit!" I was growling by the time I was finished. My venom was boiling with rage at Edward. I will sentence that little mosquito to his own pyre soon, real soon.

"Peter! Calm down. You know it would not get that far ag—"

"Oh, fuck no, Jas. We ain't goin' there!" I yelled.

"That little asshole did what he did because he's playin' like he ain't what he is. He wants to be something different, and the sooner he embraces what he is, the sooner he just might be happier and more content with himself instead of trying to deny his nature. That's why he almost killed Bella today. Because of his own ego! And you damn well know it!" Jasper just sat there looking at me all dumbfounded and shit. He's known the problem for so long now. Edward was one brooding little asshole because he tried to deny the fact that he was, in fact, a motherfuckin' vampire. There was no going back; when your life is gone, it's gone, all gone.

"I know. This is nothing I don't fight everyday here, Peter. I do live with a clan of vampires that try to pretend they're human every day. It's nice at times to be able to be around and do things without trying to hide it so much. I've been content with what I am for so long now, and I know you are, as well. They just need time and some patience for it to sink in, I guess."

"Time? Fuckin' time, Jasper? They've all had plenty of time to get used to the fact they gotta suck on some blood to get nourishment. It's not like they go out and consume human food, but still, come on! You're all playin' Russian fuckin' roulette with Bella's life when it comes to him, you know."

"Peter, you've just met her. How the hell can you sit there and tell me how things are going to work around here? I know them; I know how they work. Bella has chosen to stay around here. She knows the risks just as we do. You drink from humans! Why now all of the sudden do you care what happens to one of them? Huh? Why her? Why now?" I couldn't respond to him, not yet. I wasn't sure what I could say to appease him now. He's upset.

"Peter, you're my brother. I love you like no other. If I'm to understand you, what you want, you're going to have to come clean with your issues. This isn't just about hating Edward. Is there another reason?" I let out the breath I hadn't realized I was holding in. Jasper sat there beside me just watching me patiently waiting for a response. A response I wasn't sure I could give him without putting him in the middle of something he shouldn't be in. He's my brother; I can't do that to him.

I put my legs down and leaned forward on the couch and put my head in my hands thinking of what to tell my brother, the man who's stood beside me thru everything. Would he still stand by me if I told him? Would he ask me to leave? I decided it was time for me to show Jasper what I wanted. I let my emotions leak thru the shield to him, all my desire for her, my need and my want. His eyes instantly opened wide with understanding.

"Oh, no, Peter! No. No. No!" He was up instantly pacing the floor with the realization of what I just silently confessed to him.

"You can't be. I don't know…..you just can't. She's with Edward. He's claiming her as his mate. You both can't….she's still human for fucks sake!" He was ranting now.

"Don't you think I know this, Jasper? That's why I know she can't be his mate because I believe she's mine. Today wasn't the first day I saw her, and I've told you as much before. Yeah, it's true; I've never been introduced to her, and she's never seen me before today, but damn it! This isn't something I just made up for fun, Jas."

"What am I supposed to do with this information, Peter? He'll read me. He'll know. I block him all the time on shit now as it is, I can't be sure I can keep it all locked down at all times. I can try. I will try for you. But you have to promise you won't do anything. You have to let Bella decided on her own. It has to be her choice!" .

"I know it does, and I wouldn't want it any other way."

I got up off the couch and approached my still pacing brother and wrapped my arms around him in a manly hug. He knows how much his support means to me. I'm at least able to sigh a little in relief that he's not that pissed off at me.

After glancing in and checking on my sleeping beauty, I headed out the front door to sit in my favorite corner of the deck. I liked to prop myself up on the rail in the corner by the house. From this view, I could see part of the yard, and I could see who came outta the house from here as well.

There was a slight breeze tonight, and calmness in the air I could feel thru my skin. I closed my eyes and replayed today's events in my mind. It's incredible being able to watch the memories in your head like a TV screen. This is something I loved and hated at the same time. Fuck, I loved to hate it, and yet I hated to love it.

How the hell did I manage to get myself into a fucked up situation like this? I'd come to this little rinky dink town called Forks to simply visit my brother. Now a few weeks later I was elbow deep in shit, and that was not something I liked to admit.

Jasper, that fucker, had always been there for me just as I'd always been there for him. He proved it tonight by sticking by my side; even though he might not agree with me on the angle I used to approach something I chose to do with my un-life.

I'm not sure how long I sat there; I was concentrating on the sound of the forest around me. The faint beat of Bella's heart in the background of my mind was soothing to my being as I watched the stars shine bright thru the night sky.

Bella had been a puzzle to me, but Edward's obsession with her was an even bigger puzzle than Bella herself. I tried to grasp that it had been only weeks since I'd first come across their combined scents in the woods on my way here to visit with Jasper. The many times I'd heard them talkin' in her room. The many times that I'd thought about her since the first day of seeing her in her own backyard just laying in the sunlight.

In all my years on this earth as a vampire, I'd never come across a human I would think twice about before having them for dinner. But this small fragile young woman, she'd be the fuckin' death of me if she were the last human on the Earth. I guess I proved that today by being the damn hero. Huh, me, a fuckin' hero. How the hell does something like this happen?

I guess it goes to show that heroes don't require radioactive spiders to bite them. Hell, all you need is a venom bleeding, thirsty son of a bitch to steal your life from you while you're out and about mindin' your own damn business. Then bam! A Vampire Hero is born. I chuckled at my own stupid analogy, but who the fuck am I trying to kid? Bella Swan shall now be known as Kryptonite in human form.

The knob to the porch door turning brought me out of my Superhero stupor. There she stood, Kryptonite herself, in all her 5' 4" 125 pound glory. Sleep still in her eyes, and unease just behind that. I watched as she slowly walked to the banister and leaned against it slowly inhaling the night air.

Goosebumps were rising on her skin as she took in the night sky; the air was still a bit chilly for her to be out here with no jacket on. I couldn't help her any right now; hell, I only had on sweat pants. She gazed into the forest and down thru the yard. I had to speculate about what exactly she was looking for in the forest. She couldn't possibly see that far out to really see any fuckin' thing.

She waited a moment before she got the courage to speak, "Peter." It was just a whisper, but it gave me the shivers. I couldn't respond to her. I just sat there and watched her in awe. She waited a few minutes then tried again.

"Peter, are you out here?" This time her voice was a bit louder, more confident.

I slid down off my corner banister and walked toward her a bit, "I'm rig—"

"Aaaaggghh!" Bella jumped about a foot off the porch as she screamed bloody murder.

With her scream, I heard a commotion thru the house and let them know it was just me. "I'm sorry, everyone. I seemed to have scared Bella. I'm out here. It's all alright." I said that in a hushed tone that everyone heard just fine except Bella herself.

"It's alright. It's just me, Bella."

"Holy shit, Peter! You scared the crap outta me!"

"I'm sorry. That was not my intention at all. I was sitting over here in the corner; I know you didn't see me. When you called for me, I wasn't sure how to approach you because I didn't want to scare you like I just did." I laughed a bit because any way I would've approached her out here, she would've been startled.

She relaxed a bit as I came closer to her from my corner of the porch.

"What did you need me for, doll?"

"Well, it's nothing really, I guess. I just….I couldn't sleep anymore. I…I had a bad dream." Bella put her head down and was staring at the floor like she was embarrassed about it or something. I just didn't get it. She'd managed to tuck her fallen hair behind her ear, but as it fell, it covered her face.

"A bad dream, huh? Does this kinda thing happen to you often?"

"No. Not really. The dream was just….well it was kinda disturbing, a little." She was now biting her bottom lip as if it were going to flap away if she didn't hold it down.

I just stood there lookin' at her like she had two fuckin' heads or something. I had no idea what she needed me for if she was trying to escape the mental fuck that was going on in her own head.

"Bella, I'm sorry. I can protect you from any physical attack I can see coming, but there is nothing I can do for a mental attack." I shook my head and she laughed at me. She fuckin' laughed at me.

"Ha haha haha haha!" She looked up at me with a big smile on her face.

"Pe…..Peter, a dream is not a mental attack. It's just a type of hallucination, I guess you can call it that. It happens when you sleep. It's not real, and it can't really hurt you. It's just disturbing at times when they're scary like the one I had tonight. It was just a bit scary is all."

"Oh well, what do you expect doll? You're talking to someone who hasn't dreamed in over a hundred and fifty years. I mean if I ever fuckin' dreamed at all that is, I can't remember if I did. Besides Jasper is the mojo king if you need help sleeping, Bella. Maybe he'll help you out if you need him to." Now it was her turn to look at me like I had grown two heads. But she said nothing.

"What is it? Why are you lookin' at me that way?"

"What do you mean Jasper is the mojo king? How could he help me out sleeping?" What the fuck? How long has she been hanging out here at the Cullen place? Does she really not know him? Does she really not know what he can do? Knowing that little asshole Edward, he never told her anything about this family.

"Bella, has Eddie boy really not told you anything about this family? What vampires are all about? Or was it a 'don't ask don't tell' kinda thing? I mean you do need to know things if you are to be here as much as you are."

"He's told me some things, Peter, mostly things about him. When I first met Edward and figured out that he wasn't human, he let me ask anything that came to my mind. I asked him about his mind reading, and he said that some vampires have gifts, so to speak, and it's usually something that may have been there as human and was amplified with the change." Alright, I'll give the little shit credit for one thing; he did tell her the truth about the gifts that some vamps have.

"Well, I can say that he was right about that one, doll. The fact that you knew that surprised me a bit. He does tell you some things, but others about his family he doesn't tell you at all. That's just fucked up if you ask me."

"Well, he told me about Alice's visions that they are subjective. If someone changes their mind, the future changes. He also said that Jasper was an empath that he could feel and manipulate emotions. But I don't really see how he can help me sleep. Sleep is not an emotion."

"No, Bella. Sleep is not an emotion, but calm, lethargy, and tranquility are. He could project those emotions to you and help you sleep better."

"Okay. I understand what you mean now, thanks for telling me that, Peter. Edward doesn't really let me hang around Jasper that much. I know just little things about him. I mostly get to be around him if the rest of the family is around. Edward says that Jasper's bloodlust could get the best of him if I'm too close to him for a long period of time."

Are you fuckin' kiddin' me? He doesn't really 'let' her hang out with him? Not only was Eddie boy on my shit list, but I needed to know why Jasper put up with that shit, too! How can she still believe his lies? Jasper is stronger than all these veggies combined and that little asshole is playin' like he's the best of the best. I don't think so.

"That's fuckin' bullshit! I'm sorry Bella, but he's so full of fuckin' shit! Jasper has the best control out of all the Cullen's next to Carlisle, of course. And after today you should know and remember that. You know, he's been pushing everyone in this house since I've been here that I needed to leave because I was weak, that my bloodlust was off the charts, and I didn't know how to handle myself around humans, around you! As it turns out, he's the one who couldn't handle himself around your blood!"

I'm not sure if it was my outburst or that fact that she was now realizing that Edward lied to her about many things, but Bella turned around and was leaning over the banister again. This time she was crying.

I wasn't sure what I should do; this comforting human thing was still kinda new to me. I needed to do something. I felt drawn to her like I _had_ to comfort her. I decided it was alright to move closer, so I leaned my right side on the banister facing her and slowly and lightly rubbed up and down her back. This seemed to calm her down, so I kept doing it while she cried. I fuckin' hate Edward Cullen with a passion.

The next thing I know, Bella turned into my body and was crying against my chest yet again. Her warm salty tears were running down my cold skin as I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around her and held on to her as she cried. I laid my cheek on the top of her head and listened to her incoherent sobs.

I held her for some time, and she soon became still in my arms. Realization hit me that I was holding Bella against my naked body yet again today. It was a chilly night for her to be out with no jacket, and against my ice cold frame, she had to be terribly cold. What the fuck was I thinkin'?

I slowly let my arms move to her shoulders and pushed her back away from me to take a look at her. Most of the tears had been dry for awhile now. She had stray pieces of hair stuck to her face in many places, and those beautiful brown eyes were looking back at me. She watched me as I wiped the remaining hair that was stuck to her face off her cheeks. She didn't move she just stared into my crimson eyes in awe.

My fingers seemed to linger along her cheek bones as I wiped the hair away from her face. She leaned into my touch; the feel of her soft skin was exhilarating to me. I didn't wanna stop. I traced my thumb along her pink pouty lips, and as I made my second pass across them, Bella closed her eyes and kissed my thumb. I stopped.

I was temporarily frozen in that spot. Holy shit! She made the decision to kiss my thumb. Maybe it was just a reaction? Was it? Then my questions were answered as she opened her eyes, parted her lips and pulled the tip of my thumb into her wet hot mouth with her tongue. Fuck me! That was hot! Her passion and warmth shot right thru me, and I couldn't contain the growl inside anymore.

My growl brought Bella to attention as she let my thumb escape the confines of her mouth. I took another two passes across her beautiful lips as she stared back into my eyes. I wondered if I kissed her now would she'd let me? Hell, she let me do a lot of things to her today, so why wouldn't she let me kiss her? I took the chance.

I slowly slid my hand down her neck and brought her face close to mine. She closed her eyes as the rate of her heart jumped in speed her blood pounding thru her veins under my hand. Either she was excited, or she was scared. Damn, maybe it was both.

She brought her warm lips up to meet my own. Her luscious delicate lips moved along with mine in a tender kiss. Not knowing what her reaction to actually kissing a human drinking vampire would be, I pulled away slightly to gauge her reactions.

"Peter." My name left her lips in a breathless sigh, and that's all it took. I was gone. Kryptonite! Yep, Bella Swan is Kryptonite. I am truly F.U.C.K.E.D!

My left hand resided on her hip, and I used it to pull her closer to me again. Her hands slid their way up my bare stomach and rested on my chest. The need was flowing from both of us. I could feel every inch of her body pressed against mine. Every deep breath she took pressed her breasts into me.

I leaned back down and kissed her again. This time it wasn't so quick. A quiet moan escaped Bella's lips as I lightly pinched her bottom lip between my own. I had to be careful not to let her get too close to my teeth. Her tongue meeting my own sent warmth thru my own body, and wonderful effervescent sweetness along with it.

I wasn't sure that I could pinpoint the sweetness of Bella, but it sent me back to one of the few memories of my home, Grandma's peach cobbler. I'd never forget that taste no matter how many lifetimes I lived thru. Oh, and Rum. Bella tasted like peach cobbler and rum. I could get drunk on Bella.

As this thought left my mind, I was brought to the current problem at hand. I felt him coming, and as he lunged toward us, I caught his scrawny fuckin' neck with my left hand. You can't be serious? One ass beaten wasn't enough for this dickhole in a day? I released Bella's lips on Eddie boy's impact with my hand. He squirmed in my grasp, but this was a feeble attempt on his part. He should know that by now.

Bella hadn't realize what had happened right away, and when she saw him dangling there by my hand she jumped slightly back toward me and the banister and away from Edward.

"It's alright, Bella. Just please stand over there outta the way." She nodded her head and did what I asked her to do. I looked back at Eddie's pained face. Damn, he just got back and now what? He wants that healing arm removed again? Maybe this time I shouldn't be so gentle on him.

"Are you fuckin' insane as well as stupid, boy? Why the fuck would you jeopardize hurting Bella to get to me?"

The Cullen house was alive again. Every one now graced the deck with the commotion that Edward had caused.

"Fuck you Peter!" Edward used foul language; he must be pissed.

"Fuck me? Fuck me? That's all you gotta say after that bullshit stunt you just tried to pull?" I pulled his face toward my own, and my rage tried to take over. "You got some kinda fuckin' nerve lunging at me like that, especially with Bella so close. You're lucky if I don't kill you now, _you little piece of shit_!" My words came out as one continuous growl. My body shook with the anger he provoked in my beast for daring to attack what's mine.

Bella was tucked behind me for safe keeping as Jasper was quick to get to my right flank where he belonged. When he needed me, I got his right flank, as well. Anger rolled off of Jasper in waves; his fists were balled in tight fists at his sides.

"Let me go now, you Neanderthal!"

"What is going on here?" Carlisle's voice rang thru the house. He quickly came thru the door, "Why are we back to this place again, son?"Carlisle was always trying to be the peace maker.

"This….this protozoan had his hands on _my Bella_ again! He touched her against her will!" Every last golden eye was on me, including Jasper's. My control slipped as my grip got firmer around his neck and the anger level rose within me. I could snap him like a fuckin' twig right now.

"Why don't you tell them what you saw, Edward," I sneered. "You were standing there long enough to see that it was a mutual thing; nothing was forced either way!" Jasper nodded in response.

"You forced _my Bella_ to kiss you!" Jasper growled at his words and dropped into a crouch ready to spring. He hates liars it seems.

"You fucking lie!" He roared. "I can feel the deception roll off of you, Edward!"

"Peter has been a welcome member of this family for well over a hundred years, Edward. Now, son, you need to get a grip. You cannot provoke them, and lying about such things is so unbecoming of you." Still the golden child, the first born, could do no wrong.

I met Jasper's eyes as he came out of his crouch. He simply nodded a slight nod toward Eddie boy still dangling from my hand. Words unspoken were the language we spoke for many years. I knew what his simple nod meant, just as he knew with my answering nod toward the forest that I was gonna launch this motherfucker over the porch and thru the trees. Jasper knew he would need to step to the side shielding Bella of any accidents, and I wouldn't have to ask him to do so. That's what brothers are for.

In one quick motion, Edward was airborne slamming into several trees on his way out to the forest. At least they'd have some firewood to keep Bella warm for this coming winter.

"Call me when you land, _bitch!_" I can't help it if I'm a cocky bastard. After all, I had to show him what a protozoan Neanderthal could do!

**Thanks everyone for your support and love. Please, please review. Reviews make me happy. When I'm happy, I feel the love, when I feel the love, so does Peter. When Peter feels the love we all get happy, feel-good scenes.**

**Thanks to my girls for keepin' me in line and fixing my mistakes. I love you guys.**

**Do we need to hear from anyone else? Or do we like just Peter's point of view the best? Let me know. I'll see if anyone else wants to talk to us about these crazy happenings. **


	8. Chapter 8

**I don't own anything Twilight. That belongs to the great Steph Meyer. I just like to make Peter beat on Edward a little bit. SM would kill me if she knew.**

**Thanks for everyone who added me to their favorites and those of you who are now following me. That makes me so happy! **

**I know a lot of you like to hear from Peter, but Bella had some things to say about her ordeal. I hope she doesn't disappoint you guys. Let me know. **

**Crimson Knight**

_Chapter 8_

**Bella's Pov**

_I couldn't breathe, and for the life of me, I couldn't move. My body was abandoning me there against the wall to die. It wouldn't fight him. A part of me wanted to die by his hands; another part of me needed to die to stay with him for eternity. _

_The murderous look in Edwards's eyes as he held me there against the wall left me in a trance. He was fascinating and frightening all at the same time, but my heart wouldn't let me die like that. _

_I managed to scream out, "No! Edward, stop, don't do this! Put me down." _

_He just clenched harder around my neck and growled at me. _

_As his teeth pierced thru the skin on my neck, I screamed, "No! Not like this….not like this!"_

_I felt my body becoming numb as darkness fell over me. Was it the lack of oxygen? Or was it the blood being sucked out of my very soul, dragging me down to the depths of hell? _

"_I love you. Pl…..ease st…op…Ed….ward," I begged. _

_But he held me there so still. I was slipping away; I felt myself floating as if on a breeze as the pain left my body, and I floated away. _

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

"_You know I'm such a fool for you. You got me wrapped around your finger, ah, ha, ha. Do you have to let it linger? Do you have to, do you have to, do you have to let it linger?"_

My alarm woke me from this horrible nightmare as Linger by The Cranberries played on the radio.

For two nights now, I'd had the same dream. For two horrible nights, Edward was killing me while I professed my love for him. For two nights, he was killing me and not in the good way.

A good way? Come on now, Bella, are you starting to lose your mind completely, as well? Was there really a good kind of dying? I guess I had to admit to myself that if I felt that dying to live forever as a vampire was a good way to die, then, yeah, maybe there was a good way to die.

I laid there quietly watching the clouds float by my window as I thought about what had happened two days ago; the Saturday that turned my world upside down.

We were having fun, and then Edward just….he just snapped. He wasn't the Edward I knew at that moment, and then I was flying thru the air. He held me so tight against the wall; I was so afraid he was really gonna hurt me. Now, because of his loss of control, I now had to hide this hand print bruise on my neck till it faded enough that I didn't have to cover it with make-up or something.

It was a constant reminder of what Edward had told me when I first admitted to him that I knew what he was. He'd told me on many occasions that he was dangerous, and I shouldn't want to be around him. He even admitted to thirsting for my blood. I guess this is the reason why he tried to push me away in the beginning.

"_Oh, I thought the world of you. I thought nothing could go wrong. But I was wrong. I was wrong. If you, if you could get by, trying not to lie, Things wouldn't be so confused and I wouldn't feel so used, but you always really knew, I just wanna be with you."_

That morning, though, when he came to pick me up to go to his house, he even tried to get me to stay home. I pretty much demanded that we go; I wanted to see Alice. I missed my friend, and I enjoyed seeing her every chance I could outside of school. I liked spending time with all of them; they're like the family I never had.

It wasn't his family that he was particularly trying to avoid that day; it was Jasper's brother, Peter. Edward had said they had a visitor who was not accustomed to having humans around on a regular basis, and it wouldn't be safe for me to be around him. That he was afraid for my well-being was just one of the tactics he used to try and keep me away.

"But I'm in so deep. You know I'm such a fool for you. You got me wrapped around your finger, ah, ha, ha. Do you have to let it linger? Do you have to, do you have to, do you have to let it linger?"

Peter, I sighed just at the thought of his name.

I had been completely mesmerized by Edward when I first saw him in the cafeteria at Forks High School all those months ago. He was beautifully perfect in every way, so perfect that it left me feeling flawed and not worthy of his affections at times. Edward was everything I had always thought I wanted; he was well mannered and respectful of me. He even saved me from Tyler's van in the parking lot at school and then again in Port Angeles from those guys who were after me.

"_And I'm in so deep. You know I'm such a fool for you. You got me wrapped around your finger, ah, ha, ha. Do you have to let it linger? Do you have to, do you have to, do you have to let it linger?"_

That fateful Saturday when I walked into the Cullen home, I was met with the most beautiful set of crimson eyes I had ever seen. Granted, I'd never seen crimson eyes before now, but they were still beautiful none the less. Edward had warned me when we were pulling up to the house that Peter had red eyes, and I had no idea at the time that a vampire's eye color changed with the choice of blood in their diet.

Finally, after I pulled myself away from Peter's gaze, I took a good look at him. He was very tall, taller than Edward, even. When Edward said that Peter was Jasper's brother, I was expecting a boy who looked very similar to Jasper in every way, tall, blonde, nicely built in the muscle department. But I was completely caught off guard by the giant hunk of a man that stood by Jasper's side; I felt my heart skip a beat just at the sight of him.

"_You know I'm such a fool for you. You got me wrapped around your finger, ah, ha, ha. Do you have to let it linger? Do you have to, do you have to, do you have to let it linger?"_

Peter was not a boy by _any _definition. He was probably in his mid-twenties when he was changed. His dark brown hair was in waves of curls and was a bit long at the top. None of the Cullen men had beards or facial hair when they were changed, and I don't know of any other vampires to compare to, but Peter had facial hair in the means of a well kept short beard. I must have been caught ogling because Peter winked at me. I couldn't help but be a bit embarrassed about being caught staring when I just met the guy.

Peter, the human drinking vampire, had been my savior that night in more than one instance, as well. Edward was the reason I was in harm's way to begin with. I've never seen Edward jealous or enraged before, but for some reason he was acting this way toward Peter, and it just didn't seem right.

Peter was there with the family, and we were simply talking about playing the video game. It's not like we were out alone doing something we shouldn't have been, well at that time we weren't. Sigh.

It was like one second Peter and I were talking and the next second I was pinned against the wall by Edward with him snarling in my face. I didn't register anything else until Peter grabbed me and punched Edward in the face. He used so much force Edward went flying thru the air away from me. I was curled around his body, and we were out in the forest swinging thru the trees. Peter was swinging us thru the trees like some sexy Tarzan.

I cried along the way. I was so scared that Edward was going to hurt me. I cried because I didn't know if he was hurt when Peter hit him or not. I knew that from what Edward had told me that vampires are pretty much indestructible. I held onto Peter so tight around his neck and his torso with my legs that if he had to breathe, there was no way he could've with me attached to him like that.

I don't know how long we had been perched in that tree till I settled down enough to take in our new location high on the branch. I didn't know I was cut and bleeding, or I would've made him put me down before then. I felt like such an idiot. You're such an idiot, Bella! How could I have been hurt like that and bleeding all over this vampire and not know? Only me. I shook my head to myself because how dumb was that?

I knew nothing of Peter or how he came to be or how his life was before being a vampire, but here I was, this little nothing of a human, in a house full of vampires. I was bleeding all over myself, and he took me away from the dangers within; because, as it turns out, Peter was not a danger to me at all like Edward said. Edward became the danger to me at that moment.

I never intended to ask Peter to seal my cuts in that friggin' tree. It just came out, like I had no brain-to-mouth filter as it would seem, or if I did, I didn't want to listen to it. Huh, how in the world he said yes to that, I'd never know. Why the heck did I even feel comfortable with him doing that anyways?

Peter's eyes. Peter's hands. Peter's tongue. Sigh, I'm screwed. Geez, Bella, you really are a danger magnet, girl. You fell for a boy who turns out to be a vampire of all things, and then you went and got injured by said vampire boy only to end up in a tree with another vampire licking your open bleeding wounds caused by vampire boyfriend. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!

Over the last few months as our relationship progressed, Edward told me many times when I would try to push our physical relationship to its boundaries that a physical relationship with him was not likely to happen. That he could simply lose control and kill me, and he didn't want to risk it. So, I would get _so_ worked up by him many nights and _nothing_ would happen; he'd always pulled away from me.

But here I sat in a friggin' tree somewhere in the Cullen's forest having a human-drinking vampire that I didn't know from Adam lick my bleeding wounds to seal them up. This was the most erotic thing to ever happen to me. It trumped every night I shared with Edward combined! This one moment trumped them all. If Edward wasn't able to touch me like that, then how could Peter? Peter didn't seem to have a problem being with me physically anyway.

I was so lost in the moment and Peter's eyes that I was incoherent a few times. I lost myself to him. His hands on me felt like silk caressing my skin. The way he made my body feel; the things he made me feel. Sigh. He was simply amazing. There were so many other words I could use to describe him; Peter was gorgeous, strong, smart, funny, sweet and caring to me. I love, love, lovehis eyes, and I love the way the sun reflected off his scared skin, naked muscles, and chest. Sigh.

I felt so embarrassed when we finally got down from that tree. Peter had ripped my panties off of me. That was hot, but I kinda liked those ones. He needed to carry me back to the house and I had a skirt on and no panties! It felt so weird and wonderful at the same time; Peter carried me against his chest with my legs wrapped around his stomach and hips again. He growled a bit when we started running. It was so sexy. I was not sure if he was angry at something or what, but his growls were….sigh. I have no words for how they made me feel.

Peter said he was happy that he was able to cause Edward pain like he caused me. I didn't want anyone getting hurt, but the more Edward said hurtful things to Peter and me, I became angry. I was fine with Peter getting justice for me. Then Edward went and tried to attack Peter when we were on the porch kissing.

Oh, man. I never meant for Edward to see that. I didn't seek Peter out to do that; I just needed to know where he was. Something in me needed to know where Peter was. I didn't look anywhere in the house. I immediately went out to the deck; I didn't know why, but he was there.

Kissing Peter was the most wonderful thing; I felt like I needed to kiss Peter. My body seeking comfort in him just felt normal. Normal? I guess I knew nothing of normal. Geez, Bella, come on.

Alice was worried about me now. She couldn't see me the way she had before. I wondered if it had something to do with Peter's venom in my skin. He said he didn't know what it would do to me that it might not work right or might trigger the change in me, but I was fine. I felt more than fine actually. We didn't get to talk about it much on Sunday; I just wanted to come home.

I pulled the covers back and checked out my new venom-blessed scars. I loved the new scars on my leg. Something about them made me feel good. Peter fixed me. He even had scars, silver scars like mine, and it made me feel good that we kinda matched. The tingling sensation I felt from them was amazing. I hoped it would never go away. The area was now a bit cooler than the rest of my leg; when I touch it or look at it, I'll think of Peter. Sigh. Peter.

I had to get up. I couldn't be late for school today, or Charlie would be upset with me. I didn't feel like doing much to my appearance, so I just threw on some old faded jeans and my Nickleback t-shirt that I got when I was still living in Phoenix. My friends and I had gone to a concert as kind of a last Hoorah, if you will. Its mornings like this that I kinda missed the simple days in Phoenix. Now my life is full of the supernatural.

I tied up my shoe laces and headed out for the kitchen. My stomach was in knots, so I just grabbed some orange juice. I finished my glass, and off to school I went. How was I supposed to concentrate like this? I didn't know. What was I gonna say to Edward today at school today? What was I gonna say to any of them?

Crap. I didn't want to deal with him today. I wasn't sure I even could.

The drive to school was short, of course. Forks isn't a large town at all; it's nothing compared to Phoenix. I parked my truck in the lot and headed for the school door with my head down. I wanted to avoid anyone I could right now. The less I talked to anyone, the less I had to answer questions on what I did this weekend.

Jessica, the ever nosey girl she was, always had 20 questions first thing Monday morning. I was in luck this morning though; I'd somehow managed to make it to my locker without running into her or any of the Cullen's. Now, if only the rest of the day could go this well; though, I knew lunch and biology couldn't be avoided.

My morning classes came and went, and soon it was time for lunch. I'd have to ask Angela what the assignment was for English because I know I wasn't paying attention.

I gathered my books and headed to the cafeteria, ugh! I dreaded it because I knew the next class I had was Biology, and I sit right next to Edward. There's not much I could do, apart from skipping, to keep from being anywhere near him.

As I entered the cafeteria, everyone was just starting to gather in the line to get their food. I sat my books down and headed over to the salad bar. I really didn't feel like much today. My nerves were enough to kill me as it was; I didn't need indigestion from the school food on top of it.

I finished, and sat with Angela and Ben at their table. I wasn't going to give Edward a chance to talk to me right now, for I just didn't know what I'd say to him. Ugh! Why me?

"So, you're going to join us today for lunch huh Bella? What's wrong? You've been more than your normal quiet all day today." Angela really was a great friend.

"Uh, nothing's wrong. I've not been that quiet, have I?" I just wanted to try and cover it up anyway I could right now.

"No. Not that I'm complaining or anything, girl, but you've been sitting with Edward. Is everything ok with you guys?" Just then the Cullen's entered the cafeteria as if on cue. All eyes were on me waiting for an answer to Angela's question. I knew they heard it all; how could they not? I hesitated; I didn't know how exactly to say it. I couldn't tell her the truth, by any means. Edward's eyes were boring a hole thru me. I could feel them on me, and it made me feel uneasy.

"Edward and I….me and Edw.." Before I could say anything, that little bitch Lauren just had to.

"What Bella? Did Edward finally find out what a tramp you are? Did he finally break up with you because he knows you aren't any good?" Oh, she made me so sick!

"Oh no, look at the ugly duckling, poor baby; she can't say anything because it's the truth. She knows she's not good enough to be with a Cullen." I'd had enough. Even if I wasn't good enough, she had no right to tell me otherwise. Besides, who was she, the town hoe, to be calling me a tramp? I wasn't going to hold my tongue anymore.

"Shut up, Lauren! Look whose calling the kettle black! Haven't you like slept with every guy in the junior and senior classes? What was your last count, huh, 300? Maybe 400? Get a life, and then get a clue; no one wants or needs your lame opinions! If you can't say something nice to me, then I'd just rather you shut your mouth and pretend I don't exist to you! Is that something you can remember?"

As I finished my rant, an uproar of whooping and cheering rang thru the lunch room. I could hear Emmett's laugher and congratulations over them all. That made me smile on the inside. Lauren was so dumbfounded by my outburst that she sat there with her jaw hanging down catching flies just staring at me.

"What? Need me to send you a text or an email, so you can understand it better?" Angela and Ben couldn't stop laughing. Mike decided to join in as well, but a quick slap on the arm from Jessica had him holding his tongue pretty fast. What's going on with me? I would've never said anything like that to anyone before. Maybe I'd just had enough.

I sat there eating my salad wondering why I just lashed out like that; it was so unlike me. A few moments later, I felt a wave of curiosity and worry hit me. I looked up to see Jasper looking at me with that question in his eyes; was I alright? I just smiled lightly and nodded my head yes to his unspoken question.

That was weird; Jasper had never worried about me like that before, at least not that I knew of. The bell rang, and it was time to go and confront _him_. I made my way slowly to biology; I didn't want to get there any earlier than I had to. As luck would have it, my luck, Edward was sitting straight and proper at our lab table wearing a slight smile at my entrance.

I reluctantly sat my books down and slumped down into my seat letting my hair cascade down the side of my face, so I didn't have to look at him in full view unless I absolutely had to. Mr. Banner started class, and I let out a sigh of relief that I didn't have to say anything to Edward just yet. All too soon that was over; we had our lab assignments, and we needed to get busy. I had to be the first to speak; I couldn't let him start asking me questions right now. I just couldn't.

"Look, I don't want to dissect this frog anymore than you do, but you need to do the cutting part. I can't handle it right now, and besides, you've done this enough times to know exactly what you're doing." Edward let out a small chuckle as he shook his head yes and took the scalpel off the table and began cutting the disgusting, slimy, smelly, dead frog.

We made it half way thru class working silently together on our icky project when the inevitable happened; he spoke to me.

"I'm sorry for my behavior as of late, Bella. I wish you could forgive me, love. Could you ever possibly forgive my monstrous nature?" His smooth and calming voice soothed my hectic nerves. Why hadn't I talked to him before now? Why hadn't I wanted to? I shook my head as if trying to clear out the mental cobwebs. I knew there was a reason why I didn't want to be near him right now, but I was at a loss to know why; I just couldn't feel it anymore. Was there a reason?

Edward just sat there looking back at me with those dazzling and alluring golden eyes, those eyes that intrigued me so. How could I not forgive him? He told me to stay away, and I chose not to listen to him, Then when something happened, how could I just walk away when I knew what could happen? This was Edward after all, my Edward. I smiled softly, which he returned.

I couldn't help myself; I traced his left eyebrow with the tip of my finger as he leaned toward me still looking in my eyes. Sigh. I've missed him so much.

"I could never stay mad at you. Your nature is, well, your nature. And your nature is something that you can never completely escape. I know you didn't want to hurt me, Edward. I know you never meant what you said or did. I'm sorry for my unruly nature as well. Can you forgive me? Please?"

Those words, _my words,_ took me by surprise; they felt foreign somehow like they weren't even mine, and now I felt compelled to be with him. I was locked into his gaze; the need for him to forgive me was all that was important to me, all that drove me forward. Edward's amazing smile was beaming back at me, and I felt forgiven. I felt oddly at peace with myself like I _had_ to belong there with him.

"There is nothing to forgive love." He stated as he leaned forward and kissed my forehead, and I closed my eyes just reveling in the scent of Edward. My Edward.

He truly was one amazing creature and he forgave me, and he's mine. Mine forever.

***Janice stands behind Peter, so he can shield her from those evil eye glares and bullets flying at her cold, cold heart.* **

**It's all a part of the plot people. I did mention to a few of you that Edward had a few tricks up his sleeve, but I can tell you that Peter won't take this laying down; although that does sound appealing to me! I will also promise that Bella will NOT end up with that little punk! **

**I wanna thank my ****girls Juliangelus and Noncanon4me. I love you guys, thanks for all you do. **

**Love it? Hate it? Let me know, please, please review. I won't know where you stand unless you do! Thanks for reading! **


	9. Chapter 9

**I don't own anything Twilight. All Characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. I just like to mess with 'em; SM would kill me if she knew what I did with them. **

**Thanks to everyone who added me to their favorites and those of you who are now following me. That makes me so happy! **

**Here we go again. Peter's words are never to be considered "wholesome" or "family friendly." He's harsh, graphic, and beyond rough. Please proceed with caution, adult language, 18 and older please.**

**Crimson Knight **

Chapter 9

**Peter's POV**

Grrrrr! Motherfucker! This was boring ass shit; another day hanging out waiting for Jasper to get outta high school, and for what? So he can play nice with the Cullen's and stay in a crappy little town longer. He's damn lucky that there's just over a month or so of this shit left. Then it's summer vacation for him; he's reassured me of this, fucker! Next time, I'm making sure his ass is not attending school when I make a prolonged visit.

Hell, I never thought I'd be here this long to begin with anyways. How Bella Swan got her hooks in me this deep is mind-blowing. I crossed paths with a simple human girl, and I was simply captivated by her? Me? The ever strong and stealthy Captain, I was completely fuckin' awestruck.

This bullshit of staying away from her while she was in school was gonna get old really fuckin' fast. I couldn't stand this feeling. I needed to be near her, and I had to be close to her. I could feel her now, so I could only presume she could feel me as well. Yeah, if I leave Forks, her ass is coming with me!

I could possibly go see her today after she gets in from school. Carlisle gave an order to his "children" to avoid Bella like the plague last night and today to give her some space. She needed space after that fuck-up of a day she had on Saturday because of that hypocritical little fuck Eddie. They were told to approach her only if she asked them to. But I'm not his 'child'; I could do as I wished.

Fuck! Only one more hour to go, but this was totally fuckin' asinine! I'd have to stay closer tomorrow. Hell, maybe I could talk her outta ever going back again. Huh, wishful thinking, I don't know how I could ever get her to do that. Besides, I doubt her father would let her drop out. Wait, maybe I could get in? Maybe I could do this school thing too? What! Wait a minute Peter, you pathetic, stupid, son of a bitch. What the fuck were you talkin' about? I was _not _attending high school for any fuckin' reason!

Okay, I needed something to do now. I needed something more to kill my time, or I'd go fuckin' insane from waiting. Going to high school, I must have been on the right track to the insane asylum!

I decided to head out toward my new favorite little spot in a small clearing. Sure it might be a little closer to town, but, hell, I'd be ok with that.

I propped myself up on the boulder that resided in the little area and leaned back to watch the wind blow by. I had lain there peacefully for fifteen minutes before it happened. It felt like my entire chest cavity caved in on itself. Like something or someone had just dropped a fuckin' bomb on me, I jolted up so fast it startled the birds nearby, and I was on my feet in a flash. What the fuck had just happened? She's….I didn't fuckin' know what Bella was. I'd never felt this shit before!

All of the sudden, a strange vibration hit me. It took me several moments to realize it was my cell buzzing in my pocket. Jasper, what did he know? A text from him came thru.

**Meet me in the clearing in 30 min. –J**

Thirty minutes, how was I gonna make it 30 more minutes before I found out what happened? I had to know more, so I shot him a text in return.

**What the fuck just happened? I can feel her. Is she ok? –P**

I waited patiently for his answer. Come on fucker! What happened? While clutching my cell in my hand rather tightly, I paced back and forth in the clearing waiting, just waiting.

**Yes. I can't think or say more now. Just meet me, don't come here! –J**

Don't come here? Don't come here? What the fuck? My first instinct was to go there! He knew this. Why would he ask me to stay away? I had no idea, but I trusted my brother with everything that I am, and that includes my mate.

Holy shit! Did I just admit to myself that Bella was my mate? I knew I had thought about it being true. I'd confessed it to Jasper, but had I really acknowledged it to myself before now? I didn't think I had let it sink in, not really.

He couldn't think or say more right now? That could only mean it had to do with Alice or Edward's stupid ass. If he couldn't think anymore right now, then I was willing to bet it was the stupid asshole that caused this problem. I'm gonna kill him before my trip is thru, the little meddling motherfucker! What had he done now? If he had hurt one hair on her head, I was gonna rip him limb from limb. I'd be damned! I didn't care if the Cullens would be happy about it or not! Fuck with my mate and you'd be fucking with your own final death.

I needed to get my nerves calmed down before Jasper came, so we could actually talk instead of me going batshit crazy on him. I took the nearest branch and began to peel the bark off of it. I smiled. I used to make spears outta these when I was a kid. If only a wooden spear could kill a motherfucker like Edward Cullen, I'd stake his ass right now! It's too bad that some of the old vampire folk lore is false. Either way, he's dead again if he has hurt her.

I'd made three good hunting spears when I finally heard Jasper approaching the clearing. I didn't even give him time to get thru the line of trees before I started with the interrogation.

"What the fuck, Jasper? What the hell happened? Is Bella alright? What did he do?" I could instantly feel the pings on the edges of my shield; there was no way I was letting that shit in. I didn't want to be calmed the fuck down right now, and he needed to stop that shit!

"Stop that shit right now, Jasper! Just spill your guts, damn it!" I was growling at him by the time I was finished. My hands were in fists at my sides, and my chest was heaving like I actually needed the breaths I was clinging to.

Jasper came thru the line of trees with his hands held up in a calm manner. This was a tactic that worked well allowing others a moment to realize that you meant no harm without saying actual words. I relaxed a fraction at the sight in front of me.

"She's physically fine, Peter. Calm down so I can tell you what I felt." Physically? What the fuck did he do?

"What you do mean physically? What did he do to her, Jasper?"

"Alright sit down, calm yourself, Pete. Her physical being is all right. She's fine."

"Why do you keep saying physical? Jasper, tell me what's going on, now please."

"I really don't know what he did to her Peter. I'm sorry; I don't. It was the last class of the day. They share Biology together." Oh, great, I let out the breath I'd been holding, holding onto it for my dear sanity apparently.

"She'd had feelings of worry and resentment all day. Those were coupled with longing, frustration, and pain. Now, before you freak out, I think the pain was something similar to what you were feeling all night and more than likely all day today, until a while ago at least."

"So, you think she feels it, too? She can feel me?" I had to know that she did. Jasper let out a long sigh, ran his hand thru his hair, and shook his head at me.

"I can't tell you what happened, Peter. All I know is that she started talking to him in class; we could all hear them. She pretty much told him that they needed to do their work, and she wanted him to dissect the frog they had to work on, and he laughed about it. He left her alone, and they didn't talk much after that until he apologized to her for his actions this weekend."

"So he didn't touch her? I'm confused Jasper what are you trying to tell me? Just spit it the fuck out!"

"Her feelings changed completely, Peter, like a total one eighty. He apologized, and she accepted it. Then she actually fuckin' apologized to him for her disobedient behavior toward him. I was livid, to say the least, when I heard her say this. I may have caused a few fights on the grounds today with my projecting." A slight smile crossed his face. I knew he was trying to lighten my mood, but it wasn't happening, no fuckin' way was it happening.

"How could this happen, Jasper? How was she when they left the classroom? Did you see her?"

"I waited a moment while they came out; they acted just like nothing had happened. She had avoided us all day. Then they walk out of class together, he had her books in his hands, and his other arm was around her shoulder just like before." Jasper shook his head in disbelief. This boggled even his mind, and he was at least in hearing range of the incident.

"Jasper, the pain I'm feeling changed right before you sent me the text. Do you think, as I do, that this is a direct result of her feelings changing? Damn it, what happened, Jas? What could've fuckin' happened for her to change her feelings so drastically? And cause this change in me?" I was up and pacing again now. My vampire mind was deep in thought. I know a lot of shit, but this shit was something rare. What did he do? What could this little piece of shit have done to Bella now?

Jasper was up with me now; he'd passed me in the middle of the clearing and turned on the opposite side just as I did. We were pacing like this for some time before our heads snapped up in unison like we shared the same mind. In some instances in our time together, it felt that we did. Our eyes locked in realization. But there could be no fuckin' way this asshole knew how to do that. Could he? None of the Cullen's had mentioned it before, but, then again, glamouring wasn't something that every vampire could do.

Sure you had your vampire gifts of allure or persuasion, but glamouring wasn't something that every vampire could do. Hell, I'd love to have that skill under my belt.

"Holy fuckin' shit!" One mind had led to one sentence released by two separate mouths.

"You don't think it's possible, do you?"

"I don't know, Peter! I don't know. I've never heard anything about him being able to do that; it's not just something everyone can do as you already fuckin' know."

"I swear to everything fuckin' holy, Jasper, if he glamoured her…." I didn't have to finish.

"I know Peter, and I'll help you!"

"What do I do now? How do we get it to stop?" Damn it all to hell. Edward Cullen was digging his own grave right now.

"Garrett!" Again, same mind, two mouths.

"Pete, do you still keep in contact with him? His cunning ass knows the art of glamouring. If we can't figure out how to get her to snap out of it, I mean if that is indeed what he did, then we may need to take a trip and see Garrett."

"Yeah, that clever bastard finds me all the time. I haven't seen him in quite awhile now, so I figure he'll track me down soon. I have to go see her Jasper. I have to see what the fuck is going on. How did he do this in the middle of class with everyone around and you guys close by, anyway?"

"You can't go right now, Peter. You have to stay close to me. I need time to block this shit from him. You can go tonight once he's left to go to her hou…" I wasn't gonna let him finish it.

"I can't stand him being near her like that. He can't go there anymore, Jasper."

"We have no choice right now, Peter! NONE! You have to let him believe we don't know what's going on. You have to have faith that Bella will feel her way outta this. It's gotta wear off sometime, right? I promise, brother, we'll make sure your girl is safe. I don't believe he'll hurt her. I just don't understand why he felt he needed to glamour her like that. Was it to keep her feeling attracted to him? Did he do it before? Oh, fuck, for her sake, Peter, I hope he didn't. That would mean he's been keeping her that way all this time. Right?"

"Grrrrr!" I didn't want to hear that my mate could've possibly been glamoured for months before I met her. I couldn't take anymore; the rage within me began to boil; my body began to convulse violently with the steady growls that were leaving it. Deep snorting breaths of air were forced in and out of my chest; Diablo de Pedro was dying to take control now. I never felt the need to cage my beast like Jasper did; he chose to do this for the sake of his family and new lifestyle. My beast was constantly running violently inside of me waiting for his turn to rise to the surface. Right now the way things were going, he'd have his day in the sun.

"Calm yourself, Diablo!" I heard Jaspers unyielding shouts in the very corner of my mind. He was desperate right now.

"You need to calm him down, Peter! You must take control! It has to be you. If you let Diablo de Pedro out, you don't know what he'll do. Bella doesn't need to meet him yet!"

I couldn't stop him. I wanted to rein him in so bad; I knew I needed to—for her. Before I knew what was happening, Diablo de Pedro was off like a bolt of lightning taking us toward the home of our mate.

I had never fought so hard to control him in all my vampire life. He was free to roam anytime he wanted to; I had to do what I could. I felt the loss of control of my limbs to the beast within. Diablo de Pedro was on the loose. Fuck!

I could feel my mind; he had me so trapped right now. I had to try it. I could feel Jasper hot on our heels; I could feel my shield, strong and true. I did the only thing I could think of; I dropped my shield as fast as I could. My unrelenting rage took Jasper to his knees along with it.

Almost instantly, I felt Jasper. He was back up and forced peace, calm, and love at us as fast and as much as he could. Diablo stopped right in his tracks and rounded on Jasper. He knew Jasper. He knew his brother; I love my brother, and apparently Diablo de Pedro does, too.

"Calm down, it's alright. I know you wanna kill right now, Diablo, but you can't. For Bella's sake, you can't." Jasper slowly approached me and touched my shoulder. My body began to calm, and within moments, I was free and clear again. The rage subsided, and Diablo de Pedro was contained within me once again.

"Motherfucker!" I hung my head in shame. Diablo de Pedro had acted rashly which is no less than a beast would act. I had to control him better. At least for Bella's sake, I had to.

"Thank you, Jasper. I tried to stop him, but he took control of my legs, and the only way to get a hold of him again was to drop my shield. Thank fuck you acted as fast as you did."

"It's not a problem, Peter. You know I'm always going to be here for you. Now, let's get you fed and back to the house. Once you've eaten, you'll feel much better."

Countless pieces of society's trash later, Jasper and I were on our way back to the Cullen place. I'd stopped, so he could hunt along the way as well. I'd taken in so much blood this evening that I was feeling bloated from the excess. I'd not needed so much fuckin' blood in so long. I had no problems keeping myself under control, and my hunting trips were few and far between. That's something I'd perfected over the years, but today's outrage taking a toll on my body was another thing all together.

"I need to tell you more Peter."Jasper was wiping the blood from his mouth as he approached me, reeking of deer and whatever the fuck else woodland animal he had gotten into. His new sweater vest had been ripped along our way. Alice would have a fit about that one. I shook my head nodding to his clothes. Jasper just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He didn't give a fuck about the clothes she picked; he loved her in spite of that shit.

He sat his ass down beside me on the log I'd been sitting on while I waited for him to finish his meal. I simply raised an eyebrow to him at his words; because I was not sure he could fuck up my day any worse than it already has been. A simple jerk of my head backwards let Jasper know he could continue when he was ready.

"Alice can see her again. Now before you ask, we're not sure why. We didn't have much time to talk before I met up with you, and, of course, we can't really talk about it at home until Edward is gone."

"She can find her now; she's not just a fuzzy spot?" Jasper nodded his head in confirmation for me.

"Yeah, almost as soon as Bella started to apologize, Alice saw her and was bouncing off the walls excited and relieved."

"So this shit has to do with Edward fuckin' glamouring Bella. It just doesn't make sense Jasper. How can this little fuckin' prick know how to do that? I told you a long ass time ago that there was something off about that asshole, and now we're seeing it. I've always hated him, always, and never once did I like one thing he's done."

"We'll figure it out. We'll make sure she's safe, Pete." He rubbed my shoulder trying to comfort me.

"I'm afraid I'll kill him before we get it solved, Jas." A knowing look in Jasper's eyes told me I wasn't too far off the beaten path. He knew we only had so long before I went off the deep end again; only this time, I had no idea if I could stop myself.

The run back to the house was wonderful and relaxing. I'd kept my shield down until we got closer to the house, so Jasper could feed me feel good vibes awhile longer, and once we were in the vicinity of the house, my subconscious had shielded both Jasper and I.

Rushing up the stairs to my temporary hideaway, I grabbed a change of clothes and hit the shower. Edward was not home, so this gave us time to talk to the family about what might've happened. I was curious as to what Carlisle would have to say about it.

"Jasper, not another one! That was off the new Jean Paul Gaultier line. I swear you go thru more clothes than even I do. Ugh!" I knew it wouldn't take her long.

"Now darlin', you know I try my best to keep 'em clean, sometimes they just don't make it back in one piece." I shook my head to myself, Jasper the smooth talker. "It's just that I don't think this material is that durable, I blow right thru 'em so maybe, just maybe you should get something else to try something more resilient?" Oh hear him now, trying to sweet talk her into some kind of manly clothes. He was so fuckin' funny.

"Alright, enough of this bullshit, we need to talk while the little bastard is out." I had to break up her whining and his begging if we were gonna get anywhere tonight.

The family had all gathered into the living room while Jasper was cleaning himself up. All eyes were on me. I sat down on the couch next to Emmett; he slapped my shoulder and gave me a quick nod. Maybe they all felt that something was up the same as I did.

Carlisle was pacing the center of the floor between the couches in deep concentration. I swear as much as that man rubs his chin when he's thinking, you'd think he could sprout a nice beard like mine to feel. With that, I couldn't help but smooth my own beard down, too. I glanced over and saw Emmett eyeing me and rubbing his bare chin. I couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped me, jealous bastard. I rubbed it a bit more and smiled back at him shaking my head. Damn, if these veggies hadn't been changed so young they might've been able to grow a beard at the time of their transformations.

"Peter! You gloating asshole." Emmett nearly shouted at me while he attempted to punch me in the shoulder. I laughed even harder when his fist came in contact with my shield instead of me.

"Emmett, this is not the time for horseplay. I swear sometimes you're like an overgrown child."

"He's making fun of me for not being able to grow a beard, Rosie."

"He's an asshole, Emmett. If he's not eating humans, he's doing something else horrible, so I wouldn't worry too much about what Peter thinks. I think you look just fine without a nasty beard like that."

I wanted to slap the shit outta her right now, but I was raised to never hit a woman. So if Rosalie's general definition was bitch, does that make her a woman or just a bitch? Like that damn owl said, "The world may never know."

"Alright, that's enough." Jasper was finally done, and we could get down to business.

"Can anyone tell me what the fuck is going on here? Why the hell does no one know he can do this shit? You've all lived and known him for plenty long enough to get to know someone. How does something like glamouring get overlooked for so long?" I was pissed, and they all knew it.

"Peter how can you possibly blame us for this? We had no idea he could or would do something this outlandish. I certainly do not condone this type of behavior. He is indeed putting Bella and her mind in jeopardy by doing such things to her." I was on my feet in an instant.

"Carlisle, you made him. You taught him, and for well over 100 years you've lived with him! How do you not know him? Hell, I've never lived with the bastard, and I've never liked him. I knew something was wrong with him. I never fuckin' said I blamed you either, Carlisle. I just can't fathom how you didn't know he could glamour is all I'm sayin'."

"Wait, so you guys really think that Edward is able to glamour?"

"Em, we're not 100% sure, but yeah, we are pretty sure that he's done something of that sort to Bella to cause her to change emotions within a beat of her heart. Peter and I have only known one other vampire that could do it. Newborns just didn't live long enough to experiment with that sorta thing."

"Wow, Edward always said he couldn't read her mind. Isn't glamouring kinda like a mind thing? How can he glamour her and not be able to read her mind?" Alright, I'll give it to him, Emmett may be slow on the uptake, but he asked good questions.

"Glamouring isn't just about the mind, Emmett; it's more than that. Even after all this time, the Volturi still can't explain why one vampire could do it and another one could not. If Aro could get his hands on a vampire that can glamour and keep him on the guard, he would be set; he's always been in search of one. Even in my time with them, they were in search of such skills to prove that they exist. They found some that were comparable to it but nothing as powerful as glamouring."

"How do we break it off? That's what we need to know? Can it be removed without hurting Bella?"

"I would imagine that another vampire that could glamour might be able to reverse it or change it in some way, but there is no way to be certain that it will work as we think it would. Plus, we have no idea how powerful his glamouring is. Is it just a shadow of glamouring or is it full blown glamouring?"

"Is this our only hope, Carlisle? Aren't there any other methods we could try? What if he's done this to her before?" Esme was worried about her little Bella as well as the rest of us. She was worried, and it was written all over her face.

"That's it!" My head snapped to Jasper as he spoke.

"What's it?" Carlisle and I asked him in unison.

"If he's done it to her before, then it broke! Something this weekend broke his glamouring. That is _if_ he's done it to her before; because why would he need to do it again if he already did it? Unless it's weak and doesn't stay."

"That's a good observation, son. What happened to her this weekend that might've broken it?"

"Me." They all looked at me for my explanation. "Bella is _my mate_, not Eddie boy's! When we met and he turned on her when she was cut, it might've snapped her out of it, either that or my venom." Every vampire in the room held the shocked expression on their face except my brother who already knew about Bella being my mate. The family will need to come to a hard and fast realization that she is mine as I am hers. I will fix this shit and it will be soon.

"Fuck! This makes no sense." Jasper looked to me and I knew what he wanted.

"We need to call Garrett."

I only hoped that my oldest friend might be able to help me free my mate.

**I wanna thank my ****girls Juliangelus and Noncanon4me. I love you guys, thanks for all you do.**

**Thank you everyone who has been patiently waiting on me to get this chapter done. Thank you for adding my story to your favorite and such **

**Thank you for reading! Have a wonderful day. **


	10. Chapter 10

**I don't own anything Twilight. All Characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. I just like to mess with 'em; SM would kill me if she knew what I did with them especially with Edward. **

**Thanks to everyone who added me to their favorites and those of you who are now following me. That makes me so happy! Thank you all for being patient with me, and thank you to those who sent reminder notes that you guys were still out there. I enjoy writing so much more than I ever thought I would. I'm glad I can entice some of you to keep reading along with me.**

**Here we go again. Peter's words are never to be considered "wholesome" or "family friendly." He's harsh, graphic, and beyond rough. Please proceed with caution, adult language, 18 and older please.**

**Crimson Knight**

Chapter 10

"I really hope you know what the fuck you're talking about Garrett!"

"Who are you gonna trust? Huh?" Right now, I knew when I called him that I had no other choice. I needed more information than what I already had.

"What motherfucker? No words? Yeah that's right 'cause you know you have to trust what I tell ya on the matter."

"Fuck you!" I growled back at him. He was really getting on my nerves, and he knew it too. Garrett was the only other being who could rattle my chains like Jasper _and_ get away with it. Let's just hope for his sake the information he gave me on glamouring was right. If not, I'd fuck him up, fuck him up big time! Outside of Jasper he may be my best friend, but this was my future we were talking about, not just some meal-time snack.

"Tell Jasper, if he's not still listening, that I'll see you guys when I see you. If you need anything else just give me a call. If not, then I don't wanna hear from you assholes till I step foot in Spoons or Sporks or whatever the fuck you're calling it these days."

"It's Forks you ditsy bitch."

"Whatever!" And with that the line went dead (no pun intended…well fuck it! Maybe there was a bit of a pun intended for Garrett's cocky ass).

"Alright, so at least now we know there are some things we can try." I had hope, at least. If she felt me once, she could and would feel me again.

"Peter, this has to work. Garrett said that it shouldn't be permanent if it was truly glamouring that was done."

"I know, but I still have this feeling of dread running thru me, and I can't explain it. I don't know where it's coming from. "

"Why would you be feeling this much dread Peter?"

"How the fuck should I know? I'm not the feelings expert here, Jas, you are remember?" All that got me was a cocky Jasper grin. Emo bastard.

We had wandered back into the Cullen's forest for the second half of our conversation with Garrett. After a day of trying to get in touch with him, I was finally able to reach him.

That little fuck, Eddie the glamouring asshole, has pretty much been at Bella's side since he used his fucked up method of control. When I mentioned the way I felt about the situation to Garrett, I was led to believe that it could and would be reversed, but it was up to me and/or her to find a way out of it.

Alright, I'd be the first to admit that when I came to Forks, I never thought I'd be here this long. And I sure as shit never thought I'd find my mate and she'd be a _human_ at that. I kinda always thought that my mate would've been a vamp already, and I just had to wait that shit out. You know pay some fuckin' dues and shit, or whatever.

Now, here I was in the middle of the fuckin' woods with my brother trying to find the best option to start bring my _human_ mate back to me. She felt me once; I know she felt the pull, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna give up. I'll die again before I let that little motherfucker get my woman.

_Meanwhile back at the Swan residence….._

**Bella's Pov**

"Love, what can I do? There has got to be something I can do to help?"

Ugh, he needed to just shut the heck up and leave me alone! "I've told you, Edward, I don't know what's wrong with me. I hurt. I hurt all over. Nothing I've taken has worked. It hurts too much, I can barely move now."

I'd been curled into a ball on my bed for the last 2 hours. I couldn't move much without it hurting. I wanted to scream; it felt like my chest was caving in on itself. I'd never felt anything like this before.

Edward kept up his excessive pacing back and forth on my floor. This alone was enough to drive me mad. I needed my dad. Charlie would be home soon. I knew he'd help. He'd never let me down; he'd always been there when I needed him.

As if on cue, Edward announced that Charlie was coming down the street. He was finally home.

I couldn't for the life of me figure out why Edward being here with me was no comfort at all. He had always been a comfort to me, but now? I didn't know, I just hurt too much to think about it. All I knew was the more he was in my presence, the more frustrated with him I became.

"Bells, I'm home." Charlie called out to me, but I hesitated for a moment as I heard him quiet down and listen for my reply.

"We….we're up in my room dad." I managed to croak out.

Charlie was by my side in no time at all, worry written all over his face. I'd never been in bed when he came home before. I'd always had dinner ready and waiting for him when he walked thru that door.

"What's wrong kiddo? How bad is it?"

"She's been like this for the last few hours, Charlie." Dad glared at Edward irritated by the look on his face.

"Bells, what can I do? Where does it hurt?"

"A…all….over dad. It hurts so bad. I've taken Tylenol; it didn't help any either."

"Do I need to get something more? I don't know, for, like, woman troubles or something? Is that's what's going on sweetheart?"

At that moment I couldn't answer. I couldn't do anything except scream from the deep pain that tore thru me like a hot knife. It shook my body like an earthquake. I couldn't stop the convulsions as they ripped thru me. It felt as if my soul was being ripped from my body. Whatever this was, I needed it to end and end soon, or there was a great possibility that I would end before it did.

I was barely able to concentrate on the commotion going on around me. It felt like an eternity until my body settled back onto the bed, I opened my eyes, chancing a glance at my father beside me, only to find that he was no longer there.

"Dad?"

"I'm over here Bells," strain and panic in his voice. I'd never heard Charlie like this before. I followed the sound of his voice to the opposite side of my bed where he sat before only to find my father had pinned Edward to the wall. His left arm pinned his face and neck, and his police-issued pistol was pressed firmly against the vampire's temple.

"I swear to everything holy boy; if you had anything to do with what's going on with my baby girl, I'll kill you. I'm a cop. I think I know how to deal with the body so they'll never find it. Let's not worry ourselves over the details only know that I can make it happen."

"Dad!"

"Bells, you just say the word honey, and I'll take care of it. What did he do? Did he do this to you?"

If I didn't know the truth about Edward, I would've been worried about his safety at this point. But it was Charlie I was worried about right now. If he did shoot Edward I was afraid he might be hurt if it ricocheted off his head.

"D…Dad, E...Ed..ward didn't do this. I don't know what this is; the pain has grown over the last day. It wasn't there before and now it's like….ugh I don't know!"

With a stiff shove, Charlie pushed off my boyfriend and holstered his pistol again. The glare he gave Edward might have killed him had he not already been dead.

"What the hell are you talking about? You've been in pain for awhile now?"

"It wasn't much dad. A…at first it felt like a soothing pain, like a comfort or something, but then it changed it started to hurt like pressure on the inside of me. And thru today, it's only gotten w...wor…worse."

"Why didn't you call me before, sweetheart? Why did you wait? Damn it! I'm taking you to the hospital."

"Chief, I could call my father and have him come check Bella out"

Charlie snapped his head toward Edward at his suggestion. If my father had laser vision, Edward might have been cut in two or caught fire with the death stare he was receiving from Charlie. The amount of hate coming from him was astounding, and if I wasn't witnessing it for myself I might not have believed that my father could hate someone so much.

Was there something I was missing? Charlie was a pretty perceptive guy. That must be where I get it from, but I just couldn't see what the problem was with Edward. Why the dislike?

"What do you think, Bells? The hospital, or would you prefer we call Dr. Cullen and see if he could make a house call?"

"Carlisle," was all I could manage to get out as the pain shot thru me again, cutting me deeper than the last.

.

"I'll call my father immediately"

Charlie sat beside me as the tremors shook me and him along with my bed. I could feel him trying to sooth me by rubbing my arm. Slowly the tremors calmed back down again.

"F…FU…FUCK!" I couldn't help it.

"Now Bella, normally I would have to chastise you about that type of language for a young lady, but after seeing this, I'd have to say I agree with you"

A small smile graced his face. He was trying to make me feel better. It was a nice try, but that was not what I needed at this point. I needed Carlisle to knock me out or fix this shit, and I hope he gets here fast.

It felt like an eternity before I felt the cool hands of Dr. Cullen checking my pulse.

"Your heart is beating at a phenomenal rate right now, Bella. How long has the pain been this strong?"

"I..i..it w..wwasn't this b..bad til..later i..in t..the day."

"What's going on with my daughter Dr. Cullen? What can we do?"

Carlisle checked my blood pressure as I screamed again in pain.

Within moments another set of cold fingers touched my face and I opened my eyes to see the amber ones of my best friend. Alice.

"It'll be alright Bella. Shhh now, it's ok." I didn't realize that I'd began to cry when I saw her there. She wiped the tears from my cheeks as I watched my now busy room. Edward looked as though he was about too loose his mind—huh, and I'm the one who's in pain here. What the hell?

"Love, what can I do? Carlisle, what can we do for her? She's in so much pain; I can't bear to see her like this."

I chanced a glance over to where Carlisle was perched on the edge of my bed checking various areas of my body and documenting my current vital signs. If I wasn't looking at him directly, I might have missed the subtle look he gave Alice before she kissed my forehead and told me she would be back. And like that, she was gone, taking Edward along with her.

_**Back in the Cullen forest with our vampire hero…**_

"There's something wrong Jasper. I can feel that something is wrong. I can't tell you what it is, but something just doesn't feel right."

"What can…" He never got the chance to finish, his cell rang cutting him off before he could.

"Hello, Alice"

"Jasper, I need you guys to listen to me before you move, or say anything." What the fuck?

"What's wrong Alice?" Jasper was as worried as I was at this point.

"Edward called, Jasper." She paused there was a bit of panic in her voice "There's something wrong with Bella."

"WHAT!" I roared scattering the brave creatures that might have wandered near us in the first place. Jasper grabbed me by the shoulders dropping his cell phone in the process. He had to try and settle me; I was about to fuckin' lose it!

"Now, please, I asked you to bear with me so I can explain what's going on, Peter." Alice's voice came quietly from the phone where it lay on the ground. Jasper was still holding me tightly as I began to feel his calming effects.

"Alice, please, just spit it the fuck out!" I was shaking now, and I was about to rip my way outta the fucking woods to get to Bella. My growls became louder as I glared at Jasper, but my brother simply gave me that look like 'try it fucker'.

"Edward has just called Carlisle. Charlie and Bella have asked him to come check Bella out. Apparently she's in pain. Edward couldn't do anything to help, so Bella and Charlie asked that he call to see if Carlisle could come and pay her a visit."

"Now, before you say anything, no I did not _see_ this. Bella is a blur to me again. Jasper, I'm losing it. I can't see my best friend clearly, and it's giving me such a headache. I'm worried for her."

Once Jasper felt that I had calmed enough to retrieve his cell, he let me go but kept an eye locked with my now black with rage ones as the deep heavy breaths still escaped my lungs.

"Alice, we'll figure this out, sweetheart. Has Carlisle left to see Bella yet? Does he have an idea of what might be making her feel this way?" I know I did, but then again I'm not a fuckin' doctor. Her problem was Edward fuckin' Cullen. And so is _MINE._

"He has a theory, but he's not one hundred percent sure at this point. Guys, he wants you to head over to Bella's house thru the woods and keep concealed. Peter, you'll need to mask you and Jasper as you go there, but he'd like a chance to check her out first, and then for me to get Edward out of there for awhile, so he can conduct the secret testing he wants to do. So, I guess what I'm saying is head that way, but hang back a bit till he texts you and lets you know that I'm out of there with Edward. He wants me to make him hunt."

Jasper and I started to head toward Bella's house at a moderate human pace for the time being while he finished the conversation with Alice. I had immediately thickened my shield to conceal mine and Jasper's presence in the woods.

_**Get here, make it quick, and be discrete.**_ Finally!

_**We're on it! **_

It took us no time at all to make it to the Swan house. Inside we could hear Bella's panicked heartbeat, and the shallow intake of breaths she was taking. I wanted like hell to break the door down and help my mate, but Jasper kept a firm grip on my shoulder and a death stare in my eyes. I knew I couldn't risk her, hell; I'd risk _anything_ for her but _not her_.

"Jasper can you feel this? What is she feeling?" I thinned my shield and let Jasper out completely so he could work his mojo.

Immediately I saw my brother begin to buckle over his midsection, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. I caught him before he fell forward. My instincts were telling me to be on guard, so I covered him with my shield again.

"AAAAGGGGHHHH!" Bella's tortured cry almost killed me again then and there.

_**Jasper, son, what is the strength of her pain?**_

_**Its bad Carlisle, it's really fuckin' bad!**_

_**Ask Peter to drop his shield from himself, please.**_

I did as he asked and braced myself for the worse. Bella's cry began to lessen and then she finally spoke.

"Jasper? He's here? Carlisle, he's here?" What the fuck? I looked at Jasper, he shrugged his shoulders.

Charlie had been down on the first floor of the home pacing back and forth while Carlisle did his Doctor duties. His cell phone rang when Bella asked about Jasper.

"Chief Swan"

"What the hell happened, Judy?"

"No…Yes… They think it was an animal attack? Thank you, Judy. You were definitely right. I do want and need to be there. Dr. Cullen is here at my home checking on Bella. I'll be down to the station as soon as possible. Yes, I'll let him know as well. It will at least save you another call."

"What the fuck Jasper? Do animal attacks happen in this little town very often?"

"No, they don't happen that often here that I know of. But I can assume that Carlisle will be leaving when Charlie does. He takes the on call shift at the hospital a lot so the others can have family time at home. He does this to help atone for his taking time off at the last minute on sunny days."

We were lost in the moment at both Bella's assumption that Jasper was there at the house and the weird phone call Charlie just took. Charlie had made his way up to talk to Carlisle.

"Dr. Cullen when you're finished helping my daughter here, will you please head down to the hospital. The medical examiner will need your assistance this evening as well. Some fisherman stumbled across the body of my friend Waylon Forge. I can't believe this; I've known the man going on 30 years now. I need to go down to the station and make sure the formal statements are done. I may be awhile down there tonight, Bells. If you need me, you know where to find me. And please don't wait to call if something is up. And I mean that young lady. "

"Sure thing, Chief Swan. You can head on out if you want to; I'm almost thru here with her examination."

Moments later Chief Swan was headed out the front door, got into the police cruiser, and sped off.

I began to move closer to the house with Jasper hot on my heels. I needed to see her. I stopped a moment, "Carlisle we're coming up now that the Chief is gone."

"I think that is for the best if you did."

When Jasper and I reached her room, Bella was lying there calmly on the bed on her side facing the door while Dr Cullen sat quietly at the foot of her bed watching her breathe and listening to the beat of her heart.

As we entered the room, we all witnessed that her body began to relax and settle into the bed as a contented smile crossed her tear-stained face. I couldn't help the slight smile that came to me as well. I let out the breath I didn't realized I'd been holding. Fuck!

"Are you shielding right now, Peter?"

"No, I'm not. I haven't been since you asked me to drop it. Why?"

"I'd like to see if your shield has any effect on her. Jasper is she experiencing any pain at this time?" I looked at him because frankly I'd been wondering that very same thing myself.

"No, she isn't, Carlisle. Peter, she's feeling comfortable right now. She has a feeling of safety coming from her. That seems very peculiar to me though. I wasn't exposed to her feelings long enough before now to decipher if there were any feelings of a threat or danger coming from her. But now, right this moment, she's glad. Happy to be free of the pain, I'd imagine. That was most defiantly some fucked up shit."

I could only nod my head in agreement, because fuck, what else was there to really say? He'd hit the nail right on the head.

"Alright, I know we don't want to see her in pain, but we need to know how deep this goes, and what we can do to stop it. She's human, and I wonder how she feels any connection at all toward a vampire mate. How she's physically coping with all this is just amazing, and to me, it's obvious that I can't administer any medication that will prevent this from happening. I just can't believe Edward has caused this with his meddling. I've just never heard of anything like this before. I hope that Garrett gave you some good news today Peter?"

"He did, Carlisle, and now after seeing this, I'm about to rip some 100 year old Victorian vampire up for firewood when I see his ass again!" I couldn't help that it just so happened to come out in a growl that startled and awakened Bella.

Carlisle didn't say anything to me about it. He just sat there and looked between Bella and me and nodded his head in confirmation. He knew now by witnessing this, that Bella and I were truly mated, and that I had every right to dispatch his son in any way that I saw fit. Eddie did this to _my mate,_ and he would need to suffer the consequences.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to fall asleep, Dr. Cullen. Jasper, who is your friend? And thank you, thank you very much, I couldn't take much more of that."

"Bella, this is Peter. You don't remember Peter at all?" She laid ` there looking at me with a puzzled look on her face as if she'd never seen me a fuckin' day before in her life! Fuck you Eddie! I'm gonna kill you as slow as I can, motherfucker!

"I haven't done anything to thank me for, Bella."

"But, how? Why? What did you give me Carlisle? It worked. I felt like I was gonna die. What was that about anyway?"

"I didn't need to give you anything, Bella. Your body has managed to settle itself at the moment."

"What do you remember, Bella? Anything about, Peter? Anything about meeting him? Anything at all?" Jasper sounded about as desperate as I felt.

"I remember seeing him briefly at your house the last time I visited. Edward and I spent the afternoon in his room talking and listening to music. Then Alice and I had a slumber party of sorts. The only other thing I remember of him now that I think about it real hard is that Edward said that Peter was your brother. It's funny you guys don't look anything alike."

I growled again. What can I say I'm an animal? I was about to punch the wall. I was so fuckin' pissed! This might be harder than we originally thought.

"Bella, I would like to try something out here for a moment, if we could. I have a theory as to why you were in pain. I need to have this theory solidified by doing these additional tests. Will you help me out?"

"Of course I will, Carlisle. You've done so much to help me already."

"Peter, would you please shield yourself to your fullest possible power, please?"

I took a deep breath and steeled myself for what I was about to do. If this blocked all feeling from Bella, I didn't want to be the reason she would feel pain now. But we did have to know how fuckin' deep this shit goes. I closed my eyes and put my shield up; I couldn't look at her while I did it. I didn't want her to be in pain let alone see her in it.

"W…wwhat did he d…do to me?!" Her voice trembled out slow and broken. I had done this. I held strong. I wanted to fix this fuckin' shit, and if I had to hold it, then I was gonna hold it long enough to help her the best that I could. Jasper faltered at my side as she gave out an ear splitting scream.

"Aaaagggghhhh!"

I hit my knees at the sound of my mate in pain, and I was causing it this time. Me! Jasper stumbled a moment just then, and I caught him as he fell toward me. I immediately enveloped him into my shield with me. He didn't have to feel it so I helped him the best way that I could by protecting him from it. He could handle a lot of shit, but this was some off the charts instant full body take over shit! The instant he was covered he let out a sigh. I looked at Carlisle waiting for him to give the order to let it off. If he didn't say so soon, I was just gonna do it. I couldn't do this to Bella.

"Now, cover her with your shield."

I did an instant switch; I covered Bella with my shield and let Jasper out, just in case it didn't work right. He didn't need to be under all that pain trapped within the confines of my shield.

We both stood up and watched as Bella began to settle back down onto the bed. Her body calmed almost immediately as my shield comforted her.

"Well, fuck, what do we do now, Carlisle?" Jasper spoke first. I was still staring at Bella not more than two feet away from me.

"What did you do to me? Why are you here anyways? I don't know you! "

"I'll have to beg your pardon ma'am, but you do _know_ me."

She sat up and scooted toward the head of the bed. She had removed her blanket in the process exposing her bare legs and feet. I glanced down and noticed the silver scars that now blessed her right leg and thigh, _my venom_.

.

"What do you mean I _know_ you? I've only met you once in passing."

"We don't have too much time to explain before Edward gets back Bella. But it seems as though he has somehow removed or replaced a portion of your memories."

"What? How does something like that happen? When? Why? Ugh! What? What are you saying, Carlisle?" She grabbed her hair and pulled out of frustration. I knew more than well enough how she felt. But I'll be fucked if she wasn't as pissed off as I am about it. Hell, maybe even more.

"Bella, please calm down. You've already given Jasper the emotional ride of his life so far." It came out in a deep chuckle. She glared at me of course. Damn.

"I'm sorry about that, Jasper. But, you know, I just don't understand. I thought that Edward liked me. Why did he do this? This is his fault?"

"Bella, as you know some of us have been around for a very long time. I myself have been on this earth for more than 300 years, and I can tell you that I have never seen in person much less even heard of a case like yours. I believe that Edward has learned how to manipulate the human mind to do his bidding. In your case, I believe it has not worked the way he had intended it to due to the fact that he cannot read your mind."

"I've loved the fact that my thoughts are just that, mine. How did he affect my mind, Carlisle, if he can't get into it?"

"Now that's a fact we cannot get past at this time, Bella. How it was done, when it's plain to see that your mind, whether it's instinctual or not, protects itself."

"What can we do, Carlisle? How do we try and restore her memories? Is it even possible?" My brother knows me too well at times. I wanted to know this as well; what can we do?

"Peter, retract your shield from around Bella now, if you will. Let's see if it's just close proximity that helps or if it's the contact that is needed. Even though you are not physically touching her, your shield is an extension of your being. We saw that just moments ago that your close proximity was soothing. I wonder since your shield has been in contact with her body if she reacts the same way."

I did as he asked and reluctantly pulled my shield away from her. She remained calm at this time. For how long, that remains to be seen.

"Alice will be back before too long. Peter, you need to shield yourself one more time. We have to know the definite effects this has on Bella."

"What the fuck, Carlisle? How many times do you expect me to hurt her like that? What if I can't? I don't want to!"

"You need to try, Peter. We need to see the effects you have upon her."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back the truck up here. What are you talking about? What effects he has on me? What does he have to do with me? I thought you just said that Edward did this. Now you're saying Peter did it too?"

"I didn't do shit! We are in this situation because of Eddie boys fuckin' ass! You know me a hell of a lot better than you think you do at the moment. We'll figure this shit out; there's no other choice in the matter." As I finished my statement, I began slowly pulling my shield from around her. Her body had remained in its calm state, at least for the moment.

"Do you feel alright right now, Bella? Is everything ok?"

"Yeah. I feel ok, Carlisle. You said Peter has a shield. I didn't see one. What does it look like?" We all just looked at her dumbfounded for a moment. Hell I know I wasn't able to form a sentence at that time.

"Peter, do you have a shield made out of like indestructible adamantium steel and vibranium like Captain America? Do you? Because that would be so cool if you did!" Holy fuckin' shit, she knows comics? I am _so_ fucked. She is definitely my kryptonite, for sure….totally F.U.C.K.E.D is what I am…yep!

**Sorry for the delay my lovelies. Things get going tough and then the tough get going. Thanks for all your help with the beta work and for letting me bounce ideas off of you. You ladies know who you are! Be kind, please rewind! So what do you guys think? Can they get this thing fixed before Eddie and Alice get back? We will see. Chapter 11 already in progress. **


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